Glacier fluctuations at Co Tupungato

LIC. LIDIA FERRI HIDALGO; DRA. LYDIA ELENA ESPIZUA; LIC. PEDRO PITTE

Malargüe, Argenina

Simposio; Reconstructing past regional climate variations in South America over the late Holocene: anew PAGES initiative. International Symposium; 2006

IANIGLA-CONICET, Universität Bern, Past Global Changes (PAGES), Malargë

In the surroundings of Cerro Tupungato (6800 meters), Province of Mendoza, Argentina, there are ones of the main groups of glaciers at the mountain range of the Andes. As other glaciers in the world, these also have been submitted to climatic changes that have led to their regression since the beginning of the 20th century. The fact that glaciers have a big significance as water resources, even more for the oasis of Mendoza, justify to know how they have behaved in the last years studying their fluctuations. This study is based on interpretation of historical material from 1912, aerial photographs of 1962 and LANDSAT-5 satellite images from 1987 to 2005 that allow us to reconstruct the recent glacier fluctuations. These kinds of valley glaciers have a collective field of accumulation area with radial flow on the slope of the volcano Tupungato. Measures of their lengths and areas have been done to evaluate their behavior throughout the last century. A general retreat of these glaciers has been observed, although this regression is not very significant in the last years since glaciers present certain stability with few variations in their lengths and areas. Key words: climatic change, glacier fluctuations, remote sensing.