Climate Change Impacts On The Northwestern Andean (NOA) and Western (Cuyo) Andean Regions of Argentina - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 466

Brief Description of the NOA and Cuyo Regions
The contiguous area of Argentina is 2,791,810 km² (IGN 2011); after Brazil, it
is the largest country in South America. Its wedge-like shape stretches along
about 3,900 km in the N-S direction; climate zones range from subtropical
in the North to tundra in the South. As a consequence of this varied climate
the country shows large diversity in biological and landscape elements.
Argentina has been divided geographically in fi ve regions, three of which—
Patagonia, 5 Cuyo and NOA—are closely related to the Andean Ridge.
The NOA and Cuyo regions share the High Andes, Puna, Hill and Valley
Scrubland ecoregions. The NOA region in addition contains the Yungas ,
which is absent from the Cuyo region. The latter contains the Flatland and
Plateau Scrubland ecoregion, which is not in the NOA region (Burkart et
al. 1999) .
Water (Rivers)
Both NOA and Cuyo have a lot of rivers varying in size from brooks to rivers.
Some of these rivers directly reach the Atlantic Ocean, like the Colorado
River at the end of a 1,000-km journey. Other rivers such as the Juramento-
Salado River (which has its source in the Andes and discharges into the
Paraná River) and the Desaguadero River (with springs also in the Andes,
and fl ows into the Colorado River) indirectly fl ow into the Atlantic Ocean.
Some other rivers make endorheic basins and discharge in either lakes
or salt lakes (as in Puna ) or diffuse underground through permeable rock,
as many rivers in the Cuyo region do. These are mostly fed with melt water
from glaciers. In the NOA region, however, rivers are mostly fed by rain- and
snowfall. All these rivers, no matter their sources, are markedly seasonal:
fl ow rates peak in the summer months, in coincidence with annual higher
temperatures and snowmelt, and are minimal or null in the winter.
Rivers are essential to technologically advanced agriculture and the
industrial processing of grapes, olives, stone and pip fruits, forage crops,
vegetables, etc., since these crops rely on irrigation with either surface or
groundwater. In the NOA region there is enough rainfall for dryland farming
in areas to the east of the Yungas where the mean annual precipitation is
over 500 mm.yr -1 .
Drivers of change: major human activities in the region
Agriculture, tourism and mining are relevant sources of income to the
NOA and Cuyo regions, all these activities are strongly dependent on water
availability. In this chapter agriculture is taken in its broadest sense; i.e., it