Buenos Aires:
The Andes Mountain variety, which draws skiers to South America, is facing historically low snowfall this year in the course of a decade-lengthy drought that scientists hyperlink to international warming.
Scant rain and snowfall are leaving several of the majestic mountains in between Ecuador and Argentina with patchy snow cover or no snow at all as dry brown earth lies exposed.
As precipitation declines and glaciers retreat across the area, communities that rely on the mountains for water provide are probably to endure shortages, mentioned Ricardo Villalba, principal investigator for the Argentine Institute of Snow, Glacier and Environment Science Studies (IANIGLA).
“Here we are seeing a process of long-term decrease in precipitation, a mega-drought,” Villalba mentioned.
“If you look at the precipitation levels right now for the entire Cordillera (Andes range), they show that it has either not snowed at all or has snowed very little,” he mentioned.
The Southern Hemisphere is experiencing winter, when snowfall ought to peak.
Ski resorts have reopened soon after lengthy closures in the course of the pandemic and are attracting jubilant skiers to the Argentina-Chile border. But scarce snowfall is forcing several resorts to move snow to cover well known runs or make artificial snow.
Satellite photos from July 2020 and this year show a marked reduce in snow cover. That is mirrored in water level measurements for rivers.
The Andes’ glaciers, which in between 2000-2010 remained the identical size or even grew, are now receding, Villalba mentioned.
“The glaciers are in a very dramatic process of retreat that is much more accelerated than we have seen before,” he mentioned.
“This is unfortunately happening in all the glaciers of the Cordillera, and is strongly linked to the global warming process that is affecting the entire planet.”
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