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Why Perito Moreno Glacier is blue?

Perito Moreno Glacier:
Why the Perito Moreno Glacier is blue?

I´m sure you know that Perito Moreno is one of the most famous glaciers in Patagonia. One of the reasons is that it´s still growing or at least it´s not melting. It´s also a wonderful show of nature, with enormous blocks of ice falling into the lake with a thunderous crash. But, do you know why the Perito Moreno Glacier is blue? Well, blue ice is produced when snow is deposited on a the glacier, compresses, and becomes part of the glacier that drags it into a body of water (river, lake, ocean …). During the journey, the air bubbles that were trapped in the ice are expelled, and the ice crystals increase in size, making it clearer.

In some places, blue ice has been raised above the ground by earthquakes and formations such as large ice caves have been created or in other cases, it emerges in dunes of ice.

The blue color is wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering. Actually, the bluish color of ice is due to the same reason that water is blue: it is the result of an overtone of the hydroxide (OH) molecule contained in the water that absorbs the red light from the end of the water.

Interested in visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier? Take a look to some great information here

If you want to book an excursion to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier, click on the image below

Tours visiting Perito Moreno Glacier

We have many options to visit Perito Moreno Glacier and other destinations in Argentina. One of my favorites is the Complete Patagonia tour with a total of 15 nights, including Buenos Aires, Peninsula Valdes, Ushuaia, El Calafate, and Bariloche.