doi:10.5194/tc-8-1-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. The Cryosphere
Abstract. Glaciers in the tropical Andes of southern Peru have received limited attention compared to glaciers in other regions (both near and far), yet remain of vital im-portance to agriculture, fresh water, and hydropower sup-plies of downstream communities. Little is known about recent glacial-a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.643.5417 http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~bodo/pdf/hanshaw14_QIC_CV_glacial_decline.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract. Glaciers in the tropical Andes of southern Peru have received limited attention compared to glaciers in other regions (both near and far), yet remain of vital im-portance to agriculture, fresh water, and hydropower sup-plies of downstream communities. Little is known about recent glacial-area changes and how the glaciers in this region respond to climate changes, and, ultimately, how these changes will affect lake and water supplies. To rem-edy this, we have used 158 multi-spectral satellite images spanning almost 4 decades, from 1975 to 2012, to ob-tain glacial- and lake-area outlines for the understudied Cordillera Vilcanota region, including the Quelccaya Ice Cap. Additionally, we have estimated the snow-line altitude of the Quelccaya Ice Cap using spectral unmixing methods. We have made the following four key observations: first |
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