1. Below the melting glaciers: an integrated study
of glacier hydrologic change and emergent vulnerabilities in
a tropical Andean waterscape
Bryan Mark (1), Jeff Bury (2), Mark Carey (3), Ken Young (4), Jeff
McKenzie (5), Michel Baraer (6), Kyung In Huh (1), Alex Eddy (1)
1. The Ohio State University, Department of Geography and Byrd Polar Research Center
2. University of California, Environmental Studies
3. University of Oregon, History Department
4. University of Texas at Austin, Department of Geography and the Environment
5. McGill University, Earth and Planetary Sciences Department
6. Ecole de Technology Superieure, University of Quebec

2. Collaborative Research: Hydrologic
Transformation and Human Resilience to
Climate Change in the Peruvian Andes
• Michel Baraer: Glacier hydrology
– Dorian Zephir, Alex Guittard
• Ken Young: Biogeography
– Molly Polk
• Mark Carey: History
• Jeff Bury: Human Geography
– Adam French
• Jeff McKenzie: Hydrogeology
– Danny Chavez, Ryan Gordon
• Robert Hellstrom: Microclimatology
• Laura Lautz: Hydrogeology

3. Waterscape vulnerability:
coupling human & natural
systems
Over the past decade,
we’ve documented that
glaciers are receding,
transforming downstream
hydrology
• How much mass are the glaciers losing?
• How is downstream hydrology changing in the
watershed?
• What impact does this have on people?

4. Estudios doctorado (fines de siglo XX)

5. “Ciencia familiar” Alcides Ames (1942-2007)
1998 “Mis familias” 2012 B&B My House
http://micasahuaraz.jimdo.com/

6. http://www.nature.com/news/melting-in-the-andes-goodbye-glaciers-1.11759
http://www.barbara-fraser.com/

8. Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias
Objectivos & Métodos
(1) Medir cabmios de volumen glacial
• LiDAR, fotogrametrica, radar
(2) Evaluar impactos de deshielo en
la cantidad y calidad del agua
• Mediciones hidroquimicas
• Modelos, nuevos mediciones
(3) Evaluar adaptacion y cambios al
nivel del hogar
• Cuencas de estudio seleccionadas
• Entrevistas en las comunidades

9. 3. Tributarias del Rio Santa
2. Confluencia
1. Cuencas glaciales
¿Cuanto de agua
aportan los
glaciares al rios?
Una gestion de escala
Callejon de Huaylas: la cuenca poblada del
Rio Santa

10. DEM created in ArcInfo using
TOPOGRID. Contour lines
digitized from 1:100,000 scale
maps printed by the Instituto
Geografico Nacional (IGN) with
200 m contour intervals.
N
EW
Huaraz
Olleros
Llanganuco
Hidroelectrica
Paron
Querococha
Chancos
Rio Santa tributarias:
% area con glaciares
0
5
10
15
20
25
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Annualdischarge(%)
Querococha 3% Olleros 10%
Chancos 22% Llanganuco 36%
Paron 52%
3%
52%
Fusion glacial reduce el
contraste en descarga
durante el año

11. Glacier Hydrologic Function
a) More glaciers, less variable discharge
b) More glaciers, more discharge
c) Melt buffers seasonal variation of
discharge
a
y = -0.01x + 0.62
R2
= 0.68
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
0 20 40 60
Glacierised area (%)
Coefficientofvariation
b
y = 0.01x + 0.75
R2
= 0.45
0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2.0
0 20 40 60
Glacierised area (%)
Specificdischarge(ma-1
)
c
y = -0.02x + 2.13
R2
= 0.65
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
0 20 40 60
Glacierised area (%)
MaxQ
MeanQ
Mark & Seltzer, 2003

12. Glacier loss by
tributary watershed
annual fraction of ice loss
La Balsa watershed: average
0.61% area loss per year.
1990-2009: rates double that for
1930-2009
Volume change:
2-12 x > predicted
ASTER satellite
imagery from 2001-
2003 and 2009-2010

13. Hydro transformation: Passing “peak water”
•Persistent & accelerating glacier
loss = release of more water from
storage
•Temporary increase in discharge (Q)
•Current decline in dry season flow
probably began in 1970s
•Deficit in seasonal & annual Q +
increased & varied demand raises
concerns for water quality

14. Rio Quilcay
Glacier fed headwaters
Melt routed through shallow wetlands
Metamorphic sedimentary rocks, sulfide deposits
Large pastureland and eventual municipal water supply
How is water quality impacted along flow paths from headwaters?

15. Fortner 1Cameron et al., 1995; 2Schuster, 2005
Un tributaria con metales en exceso de nivels saludables por WHO

16. Geology & water
chemistry

17. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Discharge(m3/s)
Distance from Lake Conococha (km)
Huaraz Chavimochic
Project +
local irrigation
Dry Season Santa River Discharge

18. Summary
• We have used various integrated methods to show that glaciers
are a small total contribution to water flow, but critical seasonally.
• The Santa River and most tributaries have probably passed a
critical threshold and are now decreasing dry-season flow
– Once the glaciers completely melt, the discharge will be lower than present
by 2-30%
– Santa River could be on the high end of this estimate
• Water quality is an emergent issue, with high metal
concentrations (natural & anthropogenic sources)
• >80% dry season discharge is extracted before Pacific
– For industrial ag irrigation, municipal drinking water
• Metal concentrations already threaten water quality in Peruvian
glacial melt streams; natural (geology) + human activity

19. Key insights
1. Glacial melt buffering is scale dependent, and
dynamic
2. Groundwater is the major component of the dry
season discharge. Further work is required to
constrain residence times, flow dynamics, pro-
glacial wetland processes.
3. Systematic understanding requires an integration
of sustainable embedded observations, modeling
and social science, with open sharing of data.
4. Water quality is an emergent issue, with high
metal concentrations (natural & anthropogenic
sources)

20. Related publications
Baraer, M. , B.G. Mark, J.M. McKenzie, T. Condom, K.I. Huh, C. Portocarrero, R.J. Gomez and S.
Rathay (2012). Glacier recession and water resources in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. Journal of
Glaciology, 58(207), doi: 10.3189/2012JoG11J186.
Baraer, M., J.M. McKenzie, B.G. Mark and S. Knox (2009). Characterizing contributions of glacier melt
and ground water during the dry season in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Advances in Geosciences
22, 41-49.
Bury, J., B.G. Mark, J. McKenzie, A. French, M. Baraer, K.I. Huh, M. Zapata and J. Gomez (2011).
Glacier recession and human vulnerability in the Yanamarey watershed of the Cordillera Blanca,
Peru. Climatic Change, 105(1-2): 179-206.
Fortner, S., B.G. Mark, J.M. McKenzie, J. Bury, A. Trierweiler, M. Baraer, and L. Munk (2010). Elevated
stream trace and minor element concentrations in a tropical proglacial stream. Applied
Geochemistry 26, 1792-1801.
Huh, K.I., B.G. Mark and C. Hopkinson (2012). Changes of topographic context of the Yanamarey
glaciers in the Tropical Peruvian Andes IAHS Redbook Proceedings.
Mark, B.G. (2008). Tracing Andean glaciers over space and time: some lessons and transdisciplinary
implications. Global and Planetary Change 60, 101–114.
Mark, B.G., J. Bury, J.M. McKenzie, A. French and M. Baraer (2010). Climate Change and Tropical
Andean Glacier Recession: Evaluating Hydrologic Changes and Livelihood Vulnerability in the
Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 100(4), Special
Edition on Climate Change, DOI: 10.1080/00045608.2010.497369.

21. • Thomas Condom (IRD)
• Ing. Ricardo J. Gomez
• Ing. Alejo Cochachin
• Ing. Marco Zapata
• Ing. Cesar Portocarero
• Dr. Pablo Lagos (IGP)
• Autoridad Nacional de Agua
Unidad de Glaciologia y Recursos
Hidricos
• Parque Nacional de Huascaran
• Kyung In Huh (PhD)
• Oliver Wigmore (PhD)
• Jeff LaFrenierre (PhD)
• Alfonso Fernandez (PhD)
• Adam French (PhD)
• Colin Sinclair (MA)
• Robert Battista (BS)
• Ryan Gordon (PhD)
• Patrick Burns (MS)
• Robert Hellstrom (Bridgewater
State)
• Christian Huggel, Nadine
Saltzmann (U Zurich)
• Dan Slayback (NASA-SSAI)
• Karina Yager (NASA)
• Laura Lautz (Syracuse)
• Donald Rodbell (Union)
• Nathan Stansell (N Illinois)
• Sarah Fortner (Wittenberg)
http://bprc.osu.edu/glacierchange

22. http://bprc.osu.edu/glacierchange