Carihuayrazo S-W a little Ecuadorian glacier in the way to extinction

Abstract:

Carihuayrazo S-W glacier is located on the western cordillera in the Ecuadorian Andes. During the last 60 years it has been a dramatical reduction in its ice coverage corresponding to 67%. During the last 15 years an accelerated ice coverage lost has been observed with a value of 37%.The values on the reduction of ice coverage were correlated with the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) location for the Ecuadorian Andes, corresponding to 5100 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). This value was determined over the last 20 years using different measurements over the Antisana 15 glacier (1994-2014). This place is used as a reference to locate the coverage lost for the glaciers in the Ecuadorian Andes. At the moment the Glacier under study doesn't have accumulation area since the more higher altitude was located at 5020 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l), value that is below the equilibrium line altitude. Values for mass balance have been measured during short periods of time with high negative values. According to the observations carried out on this glacier since 2003 there is a high probability that it will disappear in the next ten years . At the moment this glacier is monitoring with special attention in order to document with detail its disappearance.