The 6th edition of the course GLACIOLOGY OF THE SOUTHERN ANDES, led by the Argentinean Institute for Snow, Glacier and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA- CONICET) was held in Mendoza, Argentina from the 4 to 14 August 2025. IANIGLA forms part of the Andean Energy and Water Exchanges (ANDEX) network. The course is financially supported by CONICET and the International Glaciological Society (IGS).
The course provided a comprehensive overview of the physics of glaciers with examples from the Southern Andes (22°S-54°S). The course was divided into two weeks, with a fieldwork excursion of two days to the Central Andes of Mendoza in the middle part of the course. The first focused on delivering the theoretical concepts with lectures and exercises based on the different glacial-climatic regions of the Southern Andes. After the fieldwork excursion, students worked in groups to consolidate the concepts learned during the previous week while studying real examples along the Southern Andes.
Two U.S.-based early career scientist, Helen Flynn and Ella Bump were sponsored via ACCORD to participate in the course. You can read about their personal experiences below.
"I was thrilled to be selected for the NSF-funded ACCORD initiative （Andean Climate Change – Observations, Research, and Discovery）. The class I attended, Glaciology of the Southern Andes in Mendoza, Argentina, consisted of over twenty students and professionals, from Chile, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and the USA. With a background in snow hydrology and work experience in high alpine cold regions, this course built upon my existing knowledge of snow and ice, and was the first class I took specific to glaciers.
It was incredible and fun to learn about everyone’s work, projects, and studies, and share about our different cultures and language. We started our week in the classroom with lectures starting with an introduction to glaciers, their history and present status, the equations, theories, measurement techniques and instrumentation, future challenges in glacier monitoring, and disaster preparedness, as well as mountain weather processes affecting glacier mass balance. When the weekend arrived, we headed up to Refugion Vallecitos Uncuyo located in the Parque Provincial Cordon del Plata, a few hours outside of Mendoza. We spent two days hiking up into valleys ringed with tall peaks, experiencing the beauty of the undulating surface of rock glaciers and moraines covered with a fresh layer of snow and flanked by steep treeless hillsides. We visited a weather station and dug snow pits to learn about the data being collected as part of the monitoring network of the Andean glaciers. The second week, we worked on a final group project, a report on the glaciers in a region of the southern Andes, where we used real data to apply the theories, equations and data analysis techniques we learned about.
I gained so much from learning about the glaciers of the southern Andes, the monitoring networks of research institutions abroad, and the challenges communities will experience related to glaciers and climate change. A huge thank you to the staff and scientists at IANIGLA who put on the class; it was really incredible to be welcomed there and be a part of it. This experience has widened my scope in thinking about climate change, and I will take it all with me as I move forward in my career." -----------Ella Bump (Graduate Student, Watershed Science, Colorado State University)
“Attending Glaciología de Los Andes del Sur was a very educational and fun experience. The first week was spent diving into material about glacial processes, dynamics and hydrology. We then traveled to some nearby debris covered glaciers in the Vallecitos area to see what we learned about in action. We spent two days exploring, staying in a mountain refuge and getting to know our classmates and professors more. The group became a lot closer after the field experience which was a great way to start the second week which was focused on practical group work. We were divided into groups to study a region of our choosing: the desert Andes, central Andes, Northern Patagonia and Southern Patagonia. We worked all week on calculating glacier mass balance, velocity, streamflow and other various metrics using data from actual glaciers and watersheds in the region. I was shocked to see the amount of water that Southern Patagonia glaciers are contributing to sea-level rise, and it was meaningful to calculate that contribution ourselves using published data. Seeing the final presentations offered insight to each region via the case studies. This experience solidified my interest in glaciers, gave me access to the perspectives of cryospheric researchers in the Southern Andes and allowed me to practice technical Spanish, a skill that I really want to maintain and grow. Learning the content was just a small part of the benefits that I am taking away from this experience. The connections, potential for future collaborations, and regional insights straight from the researchers collecting the data are all invaluable components of the class that I could not have gotten in the US. I enjoyed getting to know everyone and hope we will reconnect at conferences and other events in the future. Thanks so much for this opportunity!”----------Helen Flynn (Graduate Student Cryospheric Sciences, Colorado State University)
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