evidence: Disregarding glaciers and ice caps at the ice-sheet peripheries, the Southern Hemisphere accommodates about 6% of the global glacier-ice volume1,2. This fraction has the potential to raise global mean sea-level by about 15 mm. It is remarkable that 80% of this volume is stored in only two ice bodies in the Southern Andes - the Patagonian icefields (PIs). The Southern Patagonian Icefield (SPI) is about three times larger than the Northern Patagonian Icefield (NPI). In 2000, the combined ice masses of the PIs covered a surface comparable to the metropolitan area of Paris (~16,000 km2)3,4, and showed average thickness values that exceed 250 m. This implies that PI glaciers are typically five times thicker than their European counterparts. In total, they store forty times more ice volume than glaciers in the European Alps. The Patagonian climate is characterised by westerly winds impinging on the Andean Cordillera resulting in a unique atmospheric gradient from super-humid conditions in the west to arid conditions in the east5. Prolific moisture transport results in inimitable amounts of annual precipitation6,7,8,9,10. High mass turn-over of glacier ice is the consequence, with maximum flow speeds reaching several kilometres a year11. [...] Bown, F. et al. Recent ice dynamics and mass balance of Jorge Montt Glacier, Southern Patagonia Icefield. J. Glaciol.65, 732–744 (2019). [...] Malz, P. et al. Elevation and mass changes of the Southern Patagonia icefield derived from TanDEM-X and SRTM data. Remote Sensing10, 188 (2018).