Regional Conference on Permafrost 2021 and the 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering
Mountain Permafrost in the Tropical Andes of Peru: The 0°C Isotherm as a Potential Indicator
Publication: Permafrost 2021: Merging Permafrost Science and Cold Regions Engineering
ABSTRACT
In the tropical Andes of Peru very little is known about the occurrence and extent of mountain permafrost. Only recently systematic studies have been carried out on the high elevation sites of the mountain ranges (cordilleras). In the framework of the first pioneering studies, and with the objective to improve the understanding of characteristics of mountain permafrost and rock glaciers, we analyze how mountain permafrost in the Peruvian Andes is correlated with the altitude of the 0 °C isotherm (ZIA). Climate change has generated an increase in air temperature and in the ZIA in the past decades. These temperature changes could lead to impact the state of the mountain permafrost. In this research, we focus on two mountain regions: The Cordillera Central (CC) and the Cordillera Volcánica (CV), the first located in the central zone and the second in the south zone of Peru. The study used air temperature data from 20 weather stations (2002–2016) to calculate the mean annual air temperature (MAAT), interpolated using a multiple linear regression model (MLRM) and digital elevation model (MERIT DEM). Occurrence and extent of 46 intact rock glaciers (IRG) and the global model of permafrost (Permafrost Zonation Index) were used to validate the results. The MAAT of CC has a minimum value around -4.1°C (R2 = 0.8) and a ZIA average of ~5152 m a.s.l. None of the IRGs are located above the ZIA. The MAAT of CV has a minimum value around of -5.5°C (R2 = 0.8), a ZIA average of ~4861 m a.s.l., and 60% of the IRGs are located above of the ZIA. The results show a greater variation of the position of the ZIA in CC in comparison to CV, which could indicate a possible degradation of mountain permafrost in these mountain ranges.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Permafrost Project, executed through the National Institute for Glacier and Mountain Ecosystem Research of Peru, for providing all the necessary tools to carry out the rock glacier inventory and for all the useful information for the study. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the CONCYTEC-World Bank Project "Improvement and Expansion of the National Science Technology and Technological Innovation System Services"; 8682-PE, through its executing unit FONDECYT [Contract No. 23-2018 FONDECYT-BM-IADT-MU] of the Permafrost Project.
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Permafrost 2021: Merging Permafrost Science and Cold Regions Engineering
Pages: 117 - 129
Editor: Jon Zufelt, Ph.D., HDR Alaska
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8358-9
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Oct 21, 2021
Published in print: Oct 21, 2021
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