Higher temperatures and rainfall that weakened ice walls have caused part of a hanging glacier to break off at a national park in Chile’s Patagonia region.

In a video captured by tourists that went viral, a 200-metre piece of glacier that sits atop a mountain is heard to crack and then cascade into the valley below.

The incident occurs at Queulat National Park, located more than 1,200 kilometres south of Chile’s capital.

Detachments between masses of ice are normal, says University of Santiago climate scientist Raul Cordero, but he noted that the frequency of these events was troubling.