Glaciological Studies in the High Central Andes Using Digital Processing of Satellite Images

Abstract

Inaccessibility and the high cost of systematic survey have made remote sensing the most appropriate monitoring technique to study the glaciers in the high Central Andes. The sparse information that is available on the glaciers of the Argentine Central Andes is mainly concentrated on the Plomo River headwaters. Through digital processing of satellite images, the positions of glacier fronts in the Plomo catchment were updated for the 1974-1992 period; this completed the mapping of the frontal positions that began in 1909. Digital processing included histogram equalization and normalization, as well as color composites; the images were first geometrically corrected. The results indicate that during recent years most of the glaciers have been advancing, within a long-term trend of generalized retreat.