Field of penitentes in the Andes
Penitentes snow pinnacles about tall. Penitentes are a labyrinth of ice and snow pinnacles, towers, spires and blades, apparently chaotic in distribution, but actually showing a common pattern in their orientation that reflects the mechanism for their origin. They are invariably oriented toward the zenith angle of the sun at noon, with walls aligned preferentially from east to west. They range in size from a few cm to over five metres. They form by differential ablation under long spells of dry, stable and relatively cold, but sunny weather. They have been described in the tropical Andes, the Himalayas, the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada of California, the high mountains of equatorial Africa, especially the Kilimanjaro, and even on the snow cover Pico del Teide, in Tenerife.
Size: 5394px × 3504px
Location: Central Andes of Chile and Argentina
Photo credit: © Javier Corripio / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ablation, abstract, america, andes, argentina, chile, climate, glaciology, ice, pattern, penitentes, pinnacles, snow, south, sublimation, sun
