A field monitoring network strategy to evaluate ablation and displacement rates of some selected Chilean glaciers

Chile is characterized by a not negligible ice resource, mainly located in the Andes and in Patagonia. In the austral summer 2012 a field monitoring network strategy has been developed in order to survey the short-term evolution of a selection of Chilean glaciers. Then several glaciers featuring different size, geographical and climate setting were selected in the Andes (i.e. Piramide and San Francisco) and in Patagonia (i.e. Exploradores and Tyndall) thus being representative of the whole Chilean glaciation. On these glaciers ablation stakes were installed by steam drill and their position was acquired through differential GPS measurements as well. After the installation of the monitoring network, measurements were periodically repeated in order to quantify ablation and displacement rates. In the Andes, for example, the Piramide glacier, a debris covered one, were 7 stakes have been located, was characterized by up to 130 cm of ice loss in the period 18/01-05/12/2012-xx at an elevation of 3.490,9m a.s.l. and featured a daily ablation of 0.41 cm and a surface displacement of 10 m over the whole summertime. In the Patagonia instead the Exploradores glacier featured a daily ablation of 2.37 cm in the period 08/02-28/11/2012 and surface displacement of 69.166 m. All the collected data have been managed and processed in a GIS and a geomatic approach was applied to produce thematic maps. The described activities were carried out in the framework of the Project "Plan de Acción para la Conservación de Glaciares ante Cambio Climatico", a scientific cooperation project funded by IDB - Inter-American Development Bank. The project, coordinated by G.A. Diolaiuti and managed by EvK²CNR committee, involved, as a technical and scientific partner, the Chilean Dirección General de Aguas (DGA - Ministerio de Obras Públicas).