doi:10.5194/tc-8-1-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. The Cryosphere

• Main Authors: Pen A, The Cordillera Vilcanota, Including The Quelccaya Ice Cap, M. N. Hanshaw, B. Bookhagen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ice cap
• 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

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