Santiago: Part of a hanging glacier has collapsed in a national park in the Patagonia region of Chile. High temperatures and continuous rainfall weakened the walls of the glacier causing the glacier to collapse. The footage of the glacier collapsing was captured by tourists.

A video that went viral on Monday showed the glacier collapsing atop a mountain about 200 meters (656 feet) high in Culat National Park, more than 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) south of Chile's capital.

Breakups between ice sheets are common, says Raul Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Santiago, but he notes that the frequency of these events is disturbing.

"Because this type of event is triggered by heat waves or by intense liquid precipitation events and both things are also happening more and more frequently throughout the planet, not only in Chile," Cordero said.

Cordero says that the region of Patagonia experienced a heat wave with "very unusual" temperatures before the glacier broke.
Cordero added that an "atmospheric river" consisting of relatively warm air laden with moisture was also recorded. When this "river meets with Andean and Patagonian topography forms large clouds and discharges precipitation.

"One of the consequences of global warming is that it destabilizes many glaciers, particularly some unstable glacier walls," Cordero said. "What happened in Patagonia in the last few days is similar to what happened in the Himalayas and the Alps a few months ago."

Scientists say sharp spikes in warming are linked to human-caused climate change and greenhouse emissions. The U.N. climate science panel earlier this year said governments and industries should drastically reduce fossil fuel emissions to contain warming and limit climate impacts.