Influencia de eventos de humedad y sequía en lagos de la Patagonia Argentina: el caso de los lagos Musters y Colhué Huapí.

SCORDO, F.; CARBONE, M.E.; PICCOLO, M.C.; PERILLO, G.M.E.

Anuario do Instituto de Geociencias

Instituto de Geociencias - UFRJ

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2017 vol. 40 p. 179 - 189

Dry and wet periods in Senguer River basin, and its influences over the variations of the Musters and Colhué Huapílakes area, located in the Argentinean Patagonia, were analyzed. The catchment is situated in the center of ArgentineanPatagonia, it is endorheic, and the lakes are located at its lower sector. Palmer model was applied to calculate the DroughtSeverity Index (PDSI) from January 1997 to December 2012. Also, Landsat satellite images corresponding to summersfrom 1998 to 2013 were processed. During this period, 37% of the months were characterized by drought conditions ofdifferent intensity, 28% by wet and the remaining 36% under normal conditions. The most extended drought periods(2006 to 2007; 2011 to 2012) and the most intensity of drought occurred in June 1999 (-2.5 ISS) and November 2012(ISS-2), coincided with the periods of Musters and Colhué Huapí lakes decreasing area (1998 to 2001 and 2007 to2013). Furthermore, the most extended wet period (1997) and the most intense peaks of moisture occurred in June 1997(ISS 3.4), March 2001 (ISS 3.4) and June 2005 (ISS 4.6), coinciding with the increasing lakes area (1998 and 2001 to2007). The PDSI is a useful tool to analyze the occurrences of drought and wet events in the Argentinean Patagonia. Itis of great importance to be able to analyze those events in semiarid regions, where hydrological resources are scarce.Also, the PDSI it is based on variables easy to measure (precipitation and temperature). This is useful in remote andextensive regions, such as the Argentinean Patagonia, where the monitoring of meteorological variables is expensive andlogistically challenging