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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