Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
many applications, detailed inventories are a more useful tool for policy makers,
public agencies, scientists, and private investors, because the analysis scale is
more focused to catchments scale than administrative boundaries, which do not
necessarily reflect the natural boundary.
2.
Current and historic data
: The addition of more recent information does not
diminish the relevance of the existing information, in fact, historic data is a
powerful input for methodological analysis, and perhaps more importantly, for
monitoring glacier surface changes through time.
3.
Standardized, open-source information:
Cryosphere feature data analyses are
being carried out throughout the world; and the collected data are obtained using
methodologically robust means. The problem arises in that such data are not
being added to world databases, and important aspect to glacial inventory.
To some extent, these needs are achieved through the remarkable work of World
Glacier Inventory (WGI), which contains information of more than 100,000 glaciers
throughout the world. The data for these glaciers are regularly updated and avail-
able via the internet (
http://nsidc.org/data/g01130.html
) (Fig.
6.1
). The parameters
for this inventory were made public in the late 1970s, as a first effort for com-
piling worldwide glacier inventory data. These parameters included geographical
location's code and morphological classification features, among others (Mueller
et al.
1977
).
Despite the WGI, there is still a lack of information in semiarid areas glaciers,
such as the Chilean North. This is beginning to change however, as the importance
of glaciers as water reservoirs in this region is appreciated, and as the glaciers begin
to respond to climate change.
6.3.2 Glacier Inventory Research in Chile
The most important information source for glacier inventory in Chile is Garín's
inventory from 1987 between latitude 18 and 32
◦
S. This work is considered a
huge advancement to the field because it constitutes the first stage in glacier inven-
tory creation in northern and central Chile, particularly information on both the
area glaciated as well as the volume estimation derived from glacier surface area.
However, earlier contributions from Louis Lliboutry in
1956
are considered invalu-
able. His findings resulted in the topic
Nieves y Glaciares de Chile
(Snow and
Glaciers of Chile); however, the focus was more in Central and Southern Chile and
did not consider northern part of the country. Indeed, extensive glaciological works
have been carried out in Patagonia, Chile and in Darwin cordillera, but in South
and North Patagonian Icefields, there is still a need for updated and more detailed
catchments-level inventory, using modern satellite imagery analysis techniques and
GIS capabilities.
Another region with a well developed glacier inventory is central Chile, in which
the Aconcagua Catchment has been updated in the recent years (Bown et al.
2008
).
