Author(s): V. Moya Quiroga; A. Mano; Y. Asaoka; K. Udo; S. Kure; J. Mendoza
Linked Author(s): Saskia Marcellys Jimenez Mendoza
Keywords: Mass balance; Energy balance; Ablation; Snowfall; Equilibrium line altitude
Abstract: The present study presents an energy mass balance of the Andean glacier Huayna West located at the West side of the Royal Andes in the cold and dry Bolivian Altiplano. Although the glaciers from the West side of the Royal Andes are related to some of the most important Bolivian cities, there are no studies about those glaciers. This is one of the first studies analyzing data from this part of the Royal Andes. The present study considered the hydrologic year 2011-2012denoted by La Nina phase. The mass balance was performed at different elevation ranges considering the ablation and accumulation of each elevation range. The energy balance was estimated at different elevation ranges; this energy available for ablation was separated into energy used for melting and energy used for sublimation. The accumulation was estimated by separating the total precipitation into rainfall and snowfall. Then, the yearly equilibrium line altitude (ELA) was estimated along with the monthly variations of the ELA. The yearly ELA is located at 5261 meters above sea level. This value is similar to ELA estimations according to other approaches. The ELA does not remain constant throughout the year, but shows monthly variations. Comparing the monthly variations of the ELA with the monthly variations of the main climatological and meteorological parameters confirms that temperature plays a minor role in the seasonality of the central Andes compared to relative humidity. Relating the ELA with the main global climate indicators for South America (El Nino, Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Antarctic Oscillation) shows that El Nino is the climate indicator with most influence on the ELA. Results also show that the ablation zone has a higher mass gradient than the accumulation zone. A continue energy mass balance analysis in the future years is suggested in order to improve the understanding of the glaciers considering a wider range of conditions.
Year: 2014