The Andean Glacier and Water Atlas

1995 20002005

2010

Bolivia Glaciers in Bolivia are found on two main mountain ranges, the Cordillera Occidental (western) and the Cordillera Oriental (eastern), which can be further divided into four smaller cordilleras; Apolobamba, Real, Tres Cruces and Nevado Santa Vera Cruz. The eastern Cordilleras house most of the glaciers and these consist of ice caps, valley and mountain glaciers. Glaciers in the Cordillera Occidental are limited to Nevado Sajama and its nearby volcanoes. Due to limited precipitation, no glaciers exist today in southern Bolivia (Messerli et al., 1993). Rapid glacier retreat has been observed in the 20th century, especially since the 1980s (Jomelli et al., 2009, 2011; Soruco et al., 2009). Glaciers on mount Charquini in the Cordillera Real have lost between 65 and 78 per cent of their area and recession rates have increased by a factor of four over the last decades (Rabatel et al., 2006).

1990

2015

CONEJERAS

0

-5 000

-10 000

-15 000

2000 2005 2010

1995

2015

-20 000

1990

-25 000

ANTIZANA 15 ALPHA

0 -5 000 -10 000

-15 000

-20 000

1995 2000

1990

2005

2010

1985

2015

1980

10000

5000

YANAMAREY

0

-5 000

-10 000

-15 000

-20 000

-25 000

1995 2000

1990

2005

2010

1985

2015

1980

10000

5000

CHACALTAYA

0

1995 2000

-5 000

1990

2005

2010

1985

-10 000

2015

1980

-15 000

10000

-20 000

5000

PILOTO ESTE

-25 000

0

-5 000

The Chacaltaya glacier, also located in the Cordillera Real used to serve as a small ski resort (the world’s highest at 5,400 m) for the urban population of La Paz. Between 1940 (when its size was 0.22 km 2 ) and 1983, the glacier lost 62 per cent of its area. In 1998 it covered only 0.01 km 2 or seven per cent of the extent in 1940 (Francou et al., 2000). By 2009 the glacier had completely disappeared. Chacaltaya is representative of many of the glaciers in the region, since more than 80 per cent of all glaciers in the Cordillera Real are less than 0.5 km 2 in size (Francou et al., 2000). Chacaltaya is also an example of how glacier retreat accelerates once a glacier reaches a critical size where edge effects of warm air advection from the surrounding rocks become critically important (Francou et al., 2003).

-10 000

-15 000

1995 2000

1990

2005

2010

1985

-25 000

2015

1980

10000

5000

ECHAURREN NORTE

0

-5 000

-10 000

-15 000

2005 2010

-20 000

2015

2000

-25 000

MARTIAL ESTE

0 -5 000

-10 000

-15 000

Source: World Glacier Monitoring Service database, accessed February 2018. GEO-GRAPHICS / GRID-Arendal 2018

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