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Patagonia features the most extensive glaciers of the Southern Hemisphere, excluding Antarctica, and a vast inventory of glacial landforms, so it is thought to have played a key role in (paleo)glacier studies since the late 19th century. However, no systematic attempts to characterize the specific research trends and the scientific community focused on Patagonian cryosphere have been conducted so far. To fill this gap, we analyzed the metadata associated to 305 articles compiled from the Web of Science database following a bibliometric approach covering the period between 1976 and 2020. Our results point to an irregular but net increase on the number of contributions on Patagonian (paleo)glaciers. Mass balance analyses based on satellite data of present-day glaciers and the reconstruction of past glacier activity by dating glacial landforms formed during the Last Glacial Termination, were the most addressed topics during the analyzed period. Patagonian (paleo)glacier studies are mostly published in generic Earth Sciences publications, followed by Quaternary and glaciological journals. Most of the studies were led by scientists from the United Kingdom, followed by Chile, Argentina and United States. In terms of collaborations, these studies can be divided into two main clusters, one composed by researchers from United States, Chile and Argentina institutions, and another mostly composed by British researchers. So far, the most prolific authors are nearly equally distributed in nationality, yet gender inclusion and international collaborations are still caveats that must be solved. Even though our query on the Web of Science missed highly influential (so-called) grey literature, such as local scientific journals and technical reports, the reviewed scientific literature unambiguously indicates that Patagonia is a privileged location for (paleo)glaciers studies worldwide and that it will continue offering vast opportunities to tackle critical questions related to global cryosphere and past-to-present climate changes. • Patagonia is a privilege site for studying present and past glacier dynamics and the evolution of climate changes at hemispheric and global scale. • Glacier dynamics during the 20th century and and the Last Glacial Termination are the most common topics addressed in past decades in the WOS. • Patagonian (paleo)glacier studies has contributed to the development or improvement of diverse analytical techniques. • United Kingdom, United States, Chile and Argentina produced the largest number of WOS-listed papers on (paleo)glaciers in past decades. • The related scientific community is fairly heterogeneous. Although, inclusion and international collaboration issues still need to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general trend of glacial retreat since the Little Ice Age has shown an acceleration during the last decades in Southern Argentine and Chilean Patagonia. The Fuegian Andes climatic records report an irregular mean annual temperature increase since 1970, with acceleration from 2015, and the Chato Glacier, as other regional cirque glaciers, has undergone a rapid ice front retreat. A detailed mapping of the proglacial area of the Chato Glacier allowed the identification of a landform assemblage related to the glacier retreat during the last decades. In this paper morphological and sedimentological features of this peculiar landform assemblage, generated in an intense glacial ablation environment, are described and the causes of their origin are discussed. Among the most remarkable landforms annual moraines, hummocky moraines, esker-like landforms, flutes, kettle ponds, dirt cones, glacifluvial deposits, pronival ramparts and collapsed moraines are found. The multitemporal analysis of the Chato Glacier retreat allowed us to interpret that most of these landforms were generated when the landscape became ice-free after 2005. The Chato Glacier cirque floor gentle slope, the thin-ice thickness and the occurrence of a rocky threshold near the glacier front would have promoted the rapid glacier thinning and the disconnection of dead ice. This context, together with the sediments and meltwater availability, would have favored the development of this landform assemblage which is ephemeral due to its high susceptibility to erosion. • Proglacial landforms developed since the final Little Ice Age in a glacial cirque. • Multitemporal glacier retreat analysis and landforms associated. • Temperature increase and glacier retreat acceleration in Fuegian Andes since 1970. • Ephemeral landforms due to poor consolidation, intense meltwater and precipitation. • Satellite images and a photomosaic derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]