Abstract
AbstractWe present spatial patterns of glacier fluctuations from the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, (glacier area, terminus elevations, median elevations and hypsography) at decadal timescales derived from 1970 aerial photography, 2003 SPOT5 satellite data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analyses. We derived new glacier outlines from the 2003 SPOT images, and ingested them in the Global Land and Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) glacier database. We examined changes in glacier area on the eastern and western side of the Cordillera in relation to topographic and climate variables (temperature and precipitation). Results include (1) an estimated glacierized area of 569.6 ± 21 km2 in 2003, (2) an overall loss in glacierized area of 22.4% from 1970 to 2003, (3) an average rise in glacier terminus elevations by 113 m and an average rise in the median elevation of glaciers by 66 m, showing a shift of ice to higher elevations, especially on the eastern side of the Cordillera, and (4) an increase in the number of glaciers, which indicates disintegration of ice bodies. Annual air temperature showed a significant upward trend in the last 30 years, with larger temperature increases at lower elevations. There was a slight but not significant decrease in precipitation. Our results are consistent with glacier retreat and warming trends noted in the last three decades in the tropics.
Highlights
Multitemporal satellite imagery and older aerial photography have been used extensively in the last decade to quantify glacier changes in mountainous areas throughout the world, including Patagonia (Aniya and others, 1996), the Swiss Alps (Kaab and others, 2002; Paul and others, 2002), central Asia (Khromova and others, 2003, 2006; Surazakov and Aizen, 2006; Aizen and others, 2007; Bolch, 2007), the Peruvian Andes (Georges, 2004; Silverio and Jaquet, 2005) and the Himalaya (Kulkarni and Bahuguna, 2002; Kulkarni and others, 2005)
There remains a paucity of information on glacier parameters such as glacier area, length, terminus elevations, hypsography, equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs), accumulation-area ratio (AAR), mass balance and hypsometry, due to a lack of reliable elevation data from which these parameters can be extracted
We obtained the digital version of the inventory from Unidad de Glaciologıa y Recursos Hıdricos (UGRH) of Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales Ancash (INRENA), Peru
Summary
Multitemporal satellite imagery and older aerial photography have been used extensively in the last decade to quantify glacier changes in mountainous areas throughout the world, including Patagonia (Aniya and others, 1996), the Swiss Alps (Kaab and others, 2002; Paul and others, 2002), central Asia (Khromova and others, 2003, 2006; Surazakov and Aizen, 2006; Aizen and others, 2007; Bolch, 2007), the Peruvian Andes (Georges, 2004; Silverio and Jaquet, 2005) and the Himalaya (Kulkarni and Bahuguna, 2002; Kulkarni and others, 2005). Satellite images have been used to estimate glacier mass balances and equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) (Khalsa and others, 2004; Rabatel and others, 2005; Berthier and others, 2007). More recent Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Systeme Probatoire pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite imagery was used to estimate changes in glacier extents at different time-steps (Kaser and others, 1996; Georges, 2004; Silverio and Jaquet, 2005). One study (Mark and Seltzer, 2005) evaluated the spatial distribution of glacier fluctuations with respect to climate forcing in the Andes
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