San Rafael Lake
| San Rafael Lake | |
|---|---|
View of the glacier over the San Rafael Lake. | |
San Rafael Lake | |
| Location | Aysén Province |
| Coordinates | 46°40′S 73°56′W / 46.667°S 73.933°W |
| Type | Proglacial tidal lagoon |
| Primary outflows | Témpanos River |
| Catchment area | 27,410 km2 (10,580 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Chile |
| Max. length | 15 km (9.3 mi) |
| Max. width | 11 km (6.8 mi) |
| Surface area | 123 km2 (47 sq mi) |
| Max. depth | 140 m (460 ft) |
| Surface elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Location | |
Interactive map of San Rafael Lake | |
San Rafael Lake is an arc-shaped coastal lake located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within the national park that bears its name. To the north the lagoon is connected to the Moraleda Channel, to the south lies the Ofqui Isthmus. To the west and east lie the Taitao Peninsula and the Northern Patagonian Ice Field respectively.
The lake was formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. Today it is a popular tourism destination, and ships sail from Puerto Chacabuco, Puyuhuapi and Puerto Montt to the lagoon nearly every day to see the ice falling from the glacier into the lagoon. Cruises pass by this area.
The lake was visited by the Antonio de Vea expedition in December 1675. The expedition entered San Rafael Lake taking note of its windy conditions, the San Rafael Glacier and the swampy shores in the south that make up the Isthmus of Ofqui.[1] Antonio de Vea entered San Rafael Lake through Río Témpanos (Spanish for "Ice Floe River") without mentioning any ice floe but stating that the San Rafael Glacier did not reach far into the lake. This has been interpreted to reflect that the effects of the Little Ice Age were not yet to be seen in the lake the late 17th century.[2]
In 1857 Chilean navy officer Francisco Hudson and Francisco Fonck explored the lake seeking a passage that permitted navigation further south without the need to rounding the dangerous Tres Montes Peninsula.[3]
References
- ^ de Vea, Antonio (1886). "Expedición de Antonio de Vea". Anuario Hidrográfico de la Marina de Chile (in Spanish). Valparaíso. pp. 567–568.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Araneda, Alberto; Torrejón, Fernando; Aguayo, Mauricio; Torres, Laura; Cruces, Fabiola; Cisternas, Marco; Urrutia, Roberto (2007). "Historical records of San Rafael glacier advances (North Patagonian Icefield): Another clue to 'Little Ice Age' timing in southern Chile?". The Holocene. 17 (7): 987. Bibcode:2007Holoc..17..987A. doi:10.1177/0959683607082414. hdl:10533/178477.
- ^ Sepúlveda Ortíz, Jorge (December 1998). "Francisco Hudson, un destacado marino poco conocido en nuestra historia" [Francisco Hudson, a distinguished sailor little known in our history] (PDF). Revista de Marina (in Spanish). 115 (847): 551–562.
Further reading
- Heusser, Calvin J. (1960). "Late-Pleistocene Environments of the Laguna de San Rafael Area, Chile". Geographical Review. 50 (4): 555–577. Bibcode:1960GeoRv..50..555H. doi:10.2307/212310. JSTOR 212310.
- Reed, Denise J. (1989). "Environments of Tidal Marsh Deposition in Laguna San Rafael Area, Southern Chile". Journal of Coastal Research. 5 (4): 845–856. JSTOR 4297618.
- Moreira-Muñoz, Andrés; García, Juan Luis; Sagredo, Esteban (2014). "Reserva de la Biosfera Laguna San Rafael: sitio de importancia global para la investigación del cambio climático" [Laguna San Rafael Biosphere Reserve: a site of global importance for climate change research]. In Moreira-Muñoz, Andrés; Borsdorf, Axel (eds.). Reservas de la biosfera de Chile: laboratorios para la sustentabilidad [Chile's Biosphere Reserves: Laboratories for Sustainability] (in Spanish). pp. 210–227. ISBN 978-956-14-1390-0.
- Ibagon, Nicole; Medina Peña, Daila Xilena; Feriz García, Daniel; Pisso-Florez, Gustavo Adolfo (9 November 2023). "Diversidad de fitoplancton y estado de conservación de la Laguna San Rafael ubicada en el Parque Nacional Natural Puracé" [Phytoplankton diversity and conservation status of the San Rafael Lagoon located in the Puracé National Natural Park]. Revista Novedades Colombianas (in Spanish). 18 (1). doi:10.47374/novcol.2023.v18.2298.
- Reed, Denise J.; Wood, Robert Muir; Best, James (1988). "Earthquakes, Rivers and Ice: Scientific Research at the Laguna San Rafael, Southern Chile, 1986". The Geographical Journal. 154 (3): 392–405. Bibcode:1988GeogJ.154..392R. doi:10.2307/634611. JSTOR 634611.
- Reed, Denise J. (1988). "Tidal Currents and Glacial Discharge, Laguna San Rafael, Southern Chile". Journal of Coastal Research. 4 (1): 93–102. JSTOR 4297377.
- Glasser, Neil F.; Jansson, Krister; Mitchell, Wishart A.; Harrison, Stephan (September 2006). "The geomorphology and sedimentology of the 'Témpanos' moraine at Laguna San Rafael, Chile". Journal of Quaternary Science. 21 (6): 629–643. Bibcode:2006JQS....21..629G. doi:10.1002/jqs.1002.
- Ramirez, Claudio C. (28 December 2002). "Registro de algunas especies de áfidos (Hemiptera: Aphididae) en el Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael" [Record of some species of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in the Laguna San Rafael National Park]. Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (in Spanish). 51: 117–121. doi:10.54830/bmnhn.v51.2002.326.