MONITOREO DEL GLACIAR HORCONES INFERIOR Y SUS TERMOKARST, ANTES Y DURANTE EL SURGE DE 2003-2006. ANDES CENTRALES ARGENTINOS

GABRIELA LENZANO; DARIO TROMBOTTO LIAUDAT; JUAN CARLOS LEIVA

Geoacta

Asociación Argentina de Geofìsicos y Geodestas

Año: 2012 vol. 37 p. 117 - 129

1852-7744

This work analyses the temporal evolution of thermokarst and their relationship to the surges in a reconstituted debris covered glacier. The glacier Horcones Inferior is located at Lat 32º 41? S and Long 69º 57? W in the Provincial Park Aconcagua, Mendoza, Argentina, on the foot of the Aconcagua massif. The study and monitoring of the thermokarst was carried out applying indirect methods using Landsat and Aster images from 1997-2006. Detected percentages of thermokarst, in relation to the total glacial area, showed that they varied between 4.3% to 0% at the end of the surge event. The registered speeds of the glacier -on the glacial surface- reached averages of between 0.4 and 12 m/d. This methodology, with historical images from archives, represents a fundamental tool to separate catastrophic and non-catastrophic glacial flow periods.