Glacier Ablation and Water Resources in Tropical Andes: The Condoriri Glacier

Abstract

Glaciers ar e important w ater reservoirs for the Andean b asins. Due to their tr opical la titudes, their energy balance is very sensitive to climate change. The present study analyzed the ablation in the tropical Andean g lacier C ondoriri by applying a n e nergy ba lance of t he hydrologic year 2011 -2012. The to tal ablation was s eparated into sublimation a nd melting. Sublimation a ccounts for 54. 4% of t otal a blation, which is similar to results from other tropical glaciers. It was found that ablation changes with elevation; melting decreases with e levation. The water f rom melting g lacier accounts f or 8.5% of the total water input. The glacier balance shows that the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) is located at 5080 m above sea level, s imilar to E LA e stimation o f o ther s tudies. Analyzing t he te mperature t rends s hows t hat g lobal warming not only will increase the ablation, but also will modify the melting-ablation relation. Higher temperatures will increase the energy used for melting and decrease the energy used for sublimation.