The Cryosphere, 8, 359–376, 2014 Open Access www.the-cryosphere.net/8/359/2014/ doi:10.5194/tc-8-359-2014 The Cryosphere © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Glacial areas, lake areas, and snow lines from 1975 to 2012: status of the Cordillera Vilcanota, including the Quelccaya Ice Cap, northern central Andes, Peru M. N. Hanshaw and B. Bookhagen Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA Correspondence to: M. N. Hanshaw (
[email protected]) Received: 14 December 2012 – Published in The Cryosphere Discuss.: 25 February 2013 Revised: 19 December 2013 – Accepted: 10 January 2014 – Published: 3 March 2014 Abstract. Glaciers in the tropical Andes of southern Peru as glacial regions have decreased, 77 % of lakes connected have received limited attention compared to glaciers in to glacial watersheds have either remained stable or shown other regions (both near and far), yet remain of vital im- a roughly synchronous increase in lake area, while 42 % of portance to agriculture, fresh water, and hydropower sup- lakes not connected to glacial watersheds have declined in plies of downstream communities. Little is known about area (58 % have remained stable). Our new and detailed data recent glacial-area changes and how the glaciers in this on glacial and lake areas over 37 years provide an important region respond to climate changes, and, ultimately, how spatiotemporal assessment of climate variability in this area. these changes will affect lake and water supplies. To rem- These data can be integrated into further studies to analyze edy this, we have used 158 multi-spectral satellite images inter-annual glacial and lake-area changes and assess hydro- spanning almost 4 decades, from 1975 to 2012, to ob- logic dependence and consequences for downstream popula- tain glacial- and lake-area outlines for the understudied tions.