Establishing glacier proximal meteorological and glacier ablation stations in different climatic zones along the South American Andes.

Abstract

Climate change has had a significant impact on the behaviour of the high mountain cryosphere, with widespread glacier retreat and mass loss now occurring in most of the planet’s glacierised mountain ranges over multi-decadal timescales. If we are to accurately understand the impacts of deglaciation on freshwater availability to communities downstream, robust modelling of future glacier meltwater yield is paramount. Meteorological observations at glacierised elevations are essential to drive simulations of the energy balance at glacier surfaces, and therefore glacier melt, although such records are sparse in most high mountain regions due to the logistical challenges associated with making even short-term measurements. The scarcity of high-altitude meteorological observations has resulted in only limited understanding of factors such as the spatial and temporal variability of temperature lapse rates, precipitation amounts and phase, and the prevalence of conditions suited to sublimation, all of which have an important influence on glacier mass loss rates at high elevation.Here we summarise the installation of meteorological and glacier ablation stations in different climatic zones of the South American Andes - the Tropical Andes of Peru (Nevado Ausangate basecamp, 4800 m, (13°48'45.96"S, 71°12'53.18"W) and Bolivia (Laguna Glaciar, 5300 m, 15°50'10.59"S, 68°33'11.30"W), the Subtropical Andes (Glaciar Universidad, Chile, 2540 m, 34°43'10.07"S, 70°20'44.98"W) and Patagonian Andes (Lago Tranquillo, Chile, 280 m, 46°35'47.00"S, 72°47'38.91"W) – as part of the NERC-funded Deplete and Retreat Project. Meteorological station records include time series of air temperature and pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, incoming and outgoing short- and longwave radiation, precipitation amount and phase. Coincident glacier ablation is monitored at each site using ‘Smart Stakes’, recording surface elevation change on-glacier. We describe station situation, installation and preliminary measurements, along with aims and objectives of analyses using the meteorological time series.