In December, we looked at Matterhorn which straddles the border between Italy and Switzerland. This month for the Pléiades 1 – Pléiades Neo Point of Interest, we admire the Periot Moreno Glacier in Argentina.

About the Point of Interest: The Periot Moreno Glacier is located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province. It is considered to be one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia. The ice formation measures 19 miles in length and is different than others because it’s still growing. It’s one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. The ice field also is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. However, since the early 1900s, many glaciers around the world have been rapidly melting, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Since the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions have raised temperatures, even higher in the poles, and as a result, glaciers are rapidly melting, piecing off into the sea and retreating on land. In fact, scientists project that if emissions continue to rise unchecked, the Arctic could be ice free by the summer of 2040 as ocean and air temperatures continue to rise rapidly.

These two satellite images show the glacier from above with blankets of pristine white snow interrupted by repetitive lines marking where the pieces of ice merge together to form the massive glacier. Nearby is dark water. The December 9, 2021 Pléiades Neo 3 30-cm color photo shows a rounder edge to the expansive glacier. The second graphic captured February 20, 2024, a Pléiades 1B 50-cm color photo, shows the massive glacier with various sized chunks of ice floating alongside it. These images have custom processing and color balancing applied by Apollo Mapping. PLEIADES © CNES 2025, Distribution Airbus DS.

Fun Factoids: (1) With 600,000 hectares of glacial lakes, mountain peaks and forests, the Los Glaciares National Park that houses the glacier sits on the UNESCO World Heritage List and has for years. (2) The best time to visit this glacier is between November and March as you’re sure to catch glimpses of the summer sun and higher temperatures, but our all-time favorite month has to be February. (3) While this glacier continues to grow, according to scientists, others have noticed the glacier retreating on its northern front since 2020, possibly due to climate change. (4) In 1879, the British Chilean Navy captain, Juan Tomás Rogers, was the first non-indigenous person to see the glacier. (5) Pressure from the weight of the ice slowly pushes the glacier over the inner fjord of Lake Argentino, reaching the coast of Península de Magallanes and bisecting the lake at an area called the Brazo Rico (Rico Arm) on one side and the Canal de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel) on the other. With no outlet, the water level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by as much as 30 meters above the level of the main body of Argentino Lake. (6) A small glacier stonefly called Andiperla willinki inhabits the glacier. Also called “the pearl of the Andes” or “dragon of Patagonia”, it is a kind of plecoptera of the family Gripopterygidae that inhabits the Patagonian glaciers in Argentina and Chile, spending its entire life on the ice. It measures approximately 1.5 cm (0.59 in) and feeds on bacteria that live on the ice brought by the wind.

The 50-cm Pléiades 1 High-Resolution Satellite Constellation

The Pléiades 1 constellation (or at least part of it!) has been in orbit since December 2011 and if you have not had a chance to check out any sample imagery, take a few moments and have a look at the gallery on our website. If you work with high-resolution imagery, you should consider Pléiades 1 and Pléiades Neo for your next geospatial projects.

A variety of Pléiades 1 products are available from both a well-established archive and as a new collection, including 50-centimeter (cm) pansharpened imagery and 50-cm panchromatic – 2-meter (m) 4-band multispectral bundles. We are happy to discuss the technical specifications, pricing and tasking options available with both of these satellite constellations.

The 30-cm Pléiades Neo High-Resolution Satellite Constellation

Pléiades Neo is our newest high-resolution satellite constellation. The first Neo satellite went up in April 2021 and the second in August of the same year. This 30-centimeter resolution constellation will add two more satellites in the next few months and upgrade from daily to intraday revisits. Pléiades Neo has six multispectral bands with 1.2-meter resolution, including a deep blue and two infrared bands, along with a 30-centimeter resolution panchromatic band.

The archive is growing every day, and the satellites are available for new collections, making Pléiades Neo the perfect solution for site monitoring. Check out our beautiful sample images in the Pléiades Neo gallery.

More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1 can be found on our website here; while the same can be found here for the Pléiades Neo constellation.

The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about Pléiades 1 and/or Pléiades Neo. We can be reached at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.