<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figure 3: Land Glacier Ice Loss. (Source: IPCC AR4 (2007) based on Dyurgenov and Meyer (2004). ) Figure (a) shows the cumulative mass lost over time; Figure (b) shows the relative contribution of loss in each\u00a0 region to sea-level rise.<\/strong><\/p>\n Temperatures have increased at a high rate of 0.10 \u00b0C per decade in the Andes over the last 70 years. Variability in the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean (which is related to El Ni\u00f1o) also seems to be a large factor governing changes in glaciers, with precipitation apparently playing a lesser role. The higher frequency of El Ni\u00f1o events and changes in its timing and other patterns since the late 1970s, together with a warming troposphere over the tropical Andes, may explain much of the recent dramatic shrinkage of glaciers in this part of the world.<\/p>\n The Andes contribute a significant portion of river basin water supply, with up to 35 percent annually from glaciers or snowfall in some of the more arid regions of Peru and Chile (Vergara et. al. 2007). The small glaciers of the northern Andes play a lesser role in water resources, though they greatly impact delicate and unique high mountain ecosystems such as the paramo, puna, and Andean cloud forests.\u00a0In all regions, however, glaciers can be the most important source of runoff during dry seasons, affecting water availability for irrigation and other uses. \u00a0Concerns for both drinking water and hydroelectric power already have arisen in La Paz, Lima, and Quito (Buytaert et al. 2011).\u00a0The effects may also be felt on Andean valley agriculture (Stern 2006), including from changes in the contribution of melt water supporting regional economies in Argentina and Chile.<\/p>\n Andean hydropower supplies 81 percent of the electricity for Peru, 73 percent for Colombia, 72 percent for Ecuador, and 50 percent for Bolivia. \u00a0Decreases in water levels in Andean rivers, probably due to reductions in snowfall in the Andes, have already led to a 40-percent reduction in hydroelectricity generation in some regions of Argentina.[1]<\/a> \u00a0Some regions of Peru and Ecuador have already surpassed “peak water”<\/a>, when increased glacier runoff from greater melting begins to decline.\u00a0 Hundreds of thousands of people living downstream may face a future of lower flows in the warmest months – and seasonal water scarcity as a result (CONDESAN 2012). \u00a0In addition, the frequency of events such as flooding, landslides, and wildfires increased by almost 40 percent in the region between 2001\u20102010 compared to the previous decade, dominated by disasters caused by excess water (EM\u2010DAT (WHO) 2011).<\/p>\n Patagonia adjoins the southern Andes, with a population of two million in Argentina and Chile.\u00a0 The southern and northern Patagonian ice fields comprise the largest mass of ice in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica, but some of its glaciers are melting up to 100 times faster than at any time in the past 350 years, and at rates faster than any other large glacier region in the world. \u00a0The annual rate of sea-level rise from loss of glacial mass in Patagonia doubled from 2000\u20102005 (compared to the previous 25 years), with reductions of up to 50 percent in the Argentinean Tierra del Fuego (L\u00f3pez Arenas, and Ram\u00edrez Cadena 2010; Gardner et al. 2013).\u00a0 \u00a0The quantity of ice lost from Patagonia is more than the entire content of Lake Erie in North America.\u00a0 Ice fields rapidly lost volume throughout the 2000s, thinning at even the highest elevations (Glasser et al. 2011).\u00a0 This rapid melting, based on satellite observations, suggests the ice field’s contribution to global sea-level rise has increased by half since the end of the 20th century, jumping from 0.04 millimeters per year to about 0.07 mm and accounting for 2 percent of annual global sea-level rise since 1998 (Willis, Melkonian, Pritchard, and Rivera 2012).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/iccinet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AndesPatagoniaChartpng.png\" "\\"Andes&PatagoniaChartpng\\"")
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