Glacier changes in the Pascua-Lama region, Chilean Andes (29° S): recent mass balance and 50 yr surface area variations
International audience Since 2003, a monitoring program has been conducted on several glaciers and glacierets in the Pascua-Lama region of the Chilean Andes (29 • S/70 • W; 5000 m a.s.l.), permitting the study of glaciological processes on ice-bodies in a subtropical, arid, high-elevation area where...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2011
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-01871525 https://hal.science/hal-01871525/document https://hal.science/hal-01871525/file/tcd-4-2307-2010-print.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-1029-2011 |
Summary: | International audience Since 2003, a monitoring program has been conducted on several glaciers and glacierets in the Pascua-Lama region of the Chilean Andes (29 • S/70 • W; 5000 m a.s.l.), permitting the study of glaciological processes on ice-bodies in a subtropical, arid, high-elevation area where no measurements were previously available. In this paper 5 we present: (i) 6 years of glaciological surface mass-balance measurements from 4 ice-bodies in the area, including a discussion of the nature of the studied glaciers and glacierets and characterization of the importance of winter mass-balance to annual mass-balance variability; and (ii) changes in surface-area of 20 ice-bodies in the region since 1955, reconstructed from aerial photographs and satellite images, which 10 show that ice-bodies have lost 44 ± 21% of their 1955 surface-area, and that the rate of surface-area shrinkage increased in the late 20th century. From these datasets we present an interpretation of inter-decadal glacier changes, which appear to be linked to El Niño Southern Oscillation and to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. |
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