Recent mass-balance changes of Agua Negra glacier (30°S) in the Desert Andes of Argentina

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Pitte, Pierre, Masiokas, Mariano, Gargantini, Hernán, Ruiz, Lucas, Berthier, Etienne, Ferri Hidalgo, Lidia, Zalazar, Laura, Dussaillant, Inés, Viale, Maximiliano, Zorzut, Valentina, Corvalán, Ernesto, Scarpa, Juan Pablo, Costa, Gustavo, Villalba, Ricardo
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MinCyT)-ECOS, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)-Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Pléiades Glacier Observatory
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2022
• Subjects: Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.22; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143022000223

Abstract The Desert Andes contain >4500 ice masses, but only a handful are currently being monitored. We present the mass changes of the small mountain glacier Agua Negra (1 km 2 ) and of the rest of glaciers in the Jáchal river basin. Remote-sensing data show Agua Negra glacier lost 23% of its area during 1959–2019. Glaciological measurements during 2014–2021 indicate an average annual mass balance of −0.52 m w.e. a −1 , with mean winter and summer balances of 0.80 and −1.33 m w.e. a −1 , respectively. The Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) is estimated to be 5100 ± 100 m a.s.l., which corresponds to an Accumulation Area Ratio (AAR) of 0.28 ± 0.21. Geodetic data from SRTM X and Pléiades show a doubling of the loss rate from −0.32 ± 0.03 m w.e. a −1 in 2000–2013, to −0.66 ± 0.06 m w.e. a −1 in 2013–2019. Comparatively, the ice losses for the entire Jáchal river basin (25 500 km 2 ) derived from ASTER show less negative values, −0.11 ± 16 m w.e. a −1 for 2000–2012 and −0.23 ± 14 m w.e. a −1 for 2012–2018. The regional warming trend since 1979 and a recent decline in snow accumulation are probably driving the observed glacier mass balance.