Modern and late Pleistocene glacial studies in the central Andes of Peru and Bolivia: Application of satellite remote sensing and digital terrain analysis

Changes in the glaciers of the central Andes provide insight into changes in the region's climate on timescales ranging from decades to tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Satellite remote sensing was used to map the current extent of glaciers and snow cover as well as the maximum extent of late Pleistocene glaciation. The former extents of glaciers were reconstructed from the position of late Pleistocene moraines. Between 15;Modern glaciers in the central Andes are presently rapidly retreating. This shrinking has economic implications because glaciers are a valuable water resource. However, no comprehensive monitoring program exists. The ablation and accumulation zones, as well as the transient snowline, were mapped at two tropical sites: Zongo Glacier, Bolivia, and the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru, using spectral mixture analysis applied to Landsat Thematic Mapper. Because the transient snowline is a proxy for the equilibrium line altitude (ELA), this technique shows promise in enabling the relative health of many more glaciers to be monitored. Incident direct and diffuse shortwave was also modeled for a portion of the Cordillera Real, Bolivia. Modern glaciers are found in areas of the landscape receiving the lowest amounts of incident shortwave radiation.;These reconstructed glaciers, combined with cirque floor elevations in Peru, were used to determine the late Pleistocene snowline for the central Andes which was 500 to 1200+ meters lower than at present. Mass balance modeling shows the 1200+ meter snowline depression observed in the humid portions of the central Andes to be consistent with a 5...