La intención de este trabajo ha sido ensayar métodos para mejorar la comprensión de la información climática registrada por las fluctuaciones de los glaciares en el pasado. Con esa finalidad se han seleccionado tres áreas de estudio en la Cordillera Occidental de los Andes Centrales. Las tres áreas conservan glaciares actuales y morrenas depositadas por su máxima expansión, durante la Pequeña Edad del Hielo (PEH), que tuvo lugar entre mediados del siglo XVII y comienzos del XVIII. El registro glacial del clima durante esa fase se decodificó mediante la reconstrucción de las altitudes de la línea de equilibrio de las masas de hielo (paleoELAs) y se comparó con el mismo parámetro deducido de los glaciares actuales (ELAs). Los productos del desnivel entre ELAs y paleoELAs por los gradientes térmicos verticales (GTVs) proporcionaron una evaluación del enfriamiento durante la...

The Urubamba and Vilcabamba mountain ranges are two geological structures belonging to the Andes in the southern part of Peru, which is located in the tropical region. These mountain ranges are especially located within the transition area between the Amazon region (altitudes close to 1’000 m a.s.l.) and the Andes. These mountains, with a maximum height of 6’280 m a.s.l. (Salkantay Snow Peak in the Vilcabamba range), are characterized by glaciers mainly higher than 5000 m a.s.l. Here we present a study on the evolution of the ice cover based on “Landsat 5” images from 1991 and 2011 is presented in this paper. These data are freely available from the USGS in a georeferenced format and cover a time span of more than 25 years.

This paper attempts to evaluate climate cooling (ºC) during the glacial expansion phases using the product GTV•_ELA, where GTV is the vertical air temperature gradient (ºC/m) and _ELA (m) the difference in level observed between the Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) reconstructions for current and past glaciers. With this aim the Area x Altitude Balance Ratio-(AABR) method was used to produce reconstructions of present ELAs (2002-2010) and paleoELAs corresponding to the last glacier advance phase. The reconstructions were produced in three study areas located along a N-S transect of the western cordillera in the Central Andes: the south-western sector of the Nevado Hualcán (9ºS, 77ºW; Giráldez 2011); the southern slope of the Cordillera Pariaqaqa (12ºS, 76ºW; Quirós, 2013) and the NW, NE, SE and SW quadrants of the Nevado Coropuna (16ºS, 72ºW; García 2013; Úbeda 2011; Campos...

Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre / Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru

Glaciers have been an important element of Andean societies and livelihoods as direct freshwater supply for agriculture irrigation, hydropower generation and mining activities. Peru’s mainly remotely living population in the Central Andes has to cope with a strong seasonal variation of precipitations and river runoff interannually superimposed by El Niño impacts. Direct glacier and lake water discharge thus constitute a vital continuous water supply and represent a regulating buffer as far as hydrological variability is concerned. This crucial buffer effect is gradually altered by accelerated glacier retreat which leads most likely to an increase of annual river runoff variability. Furthermore, a near-future crossing of the ‘peak water’ is expected, from where on prior enhanced streamflow decreases and levels out towards a new still unknown minimum discharge. Consequently, a susta...

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In Peru, about 50% of the energy is produced from hydropower plants. An important amount of this energy is produced with water from glaciated catchments. In these catchments river streamflow is furthermore needed for other socio-economic activities such as agriculture. However, the amount and seasonality of water from glacial melt is expected to undergo strong changes. As glaciers are projected to further decline with continued warming, runoff will become more and more sensitive to possible changes in precipitation patterns. Moreover, as stated by a recent study (Neukom et al., 2015), wet season precipitation sums in the Central Andes could decrease up to 19-33 % by the end of the 21st century compared to present-day conditions. Here, we investigate future runoff availability for selected glacierized catchments in the Peruvian Andes. In a first step, we apply a simplified energy balance ...

Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre /Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru

Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre /Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru