Snow and ice in the desert: reflections from a decade of connecting cryospheric science with communities in the semiarid Chilean Andes

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Shelley MacDonell, Paloma Núñez Farías, Valentina Aliste, Álvaro Ayala, Camilo Guzmán, Patricio Jofré Díaz, Nicole Schaffer, Simone Schauwecker, Eric A. Sproles, Eduardo Yáñez San Francisco
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2022
• Subjects: Applied glaciology; glaciological instruments and methods; mountain glaciers; snow; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Annals of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2023.51; https://doaj.org/article/52d1efcca0bb43b291540d537e9e4ac5

Citizen science and related engagement programmes have proliferated in recent years throughout the sciences but have been reasonably limited in the cryospheric sciences. In the semiarid Andes we at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas have developed a range of initiatives together with the wider community and stakeholder institutions to improve our understanding of the role snow and ice play in headwater catchments. In this paper we reflect on ongoing engagement with communities living and working in and near study sites of cryospheric science in northern Chile as a strategy that can both strengthen the research being done and empower local communities.