Mass Balance and Climate History of a High-Altitude Glacier, Desert Andes of Chile

Christophe Kinnard,Shelley Macdonell,Antoine Rabatel,Patrick Ginot,Andres Rivera,Francisco A Squeo,Arzhan Surazakov,Nicolas Patris,Lindsey Nicholson

doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00040

Abstract

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: RGPIN-2015-03844. Canada Research Chairs: 231380. CONICYT-Programa Regional: R16A10003. Compania Minera Nevada.

Highlights

Glaciers are important freshwater sources and key regulators of the water cycle (Fountain and Tangborn, 1985; Jansson et al, 2003)
This study has brought together and analyzed a unique and diverse glacio-climate dataset comprising recent glaciological mass balance, geodetic and statistical mass balance reconstructions, and ice core measurements in order to investigate the evolution of Guanaco Glacier in the Dry Andes
This study showed that the measured mass balance on Guanaco Glacier has been predominantly negative since 2002, and that it is currently mostly sensitive to precipitation variations, while low temperatures, aridity and high solar radiation and wind speeds cause large sublimation losses and limited melting

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Glaciers are important freshwater sources and key regulators of the water cycle (Fountain and Tangborn, 1985; Jansson et al, 2003). Rabatel et al (2011) presented 6 years of glaciological surface mass balance data from four ice bodies in the upper Huasco River catchments, as well as historical changes in surface area for 20 ice bodies, mapped form aerial photos and satellite images since 1955. They showed that the glacier cover decreased by ∼29% over the 1955–2007 period, and that glacier mass balance was negative over the 6-year monitoring period. Uncertainties on the reconstructed cumulative Ba series were derived by propagating (summing) the annual errors backward in time assuming independent errors between years, following Masiokas et al

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT