Award details

GlacierMap: mapping glacier change in the Peruvian Andes

Reference	BB/T018690/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Caroline Clason
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor William Blake, Professor Iain Stewart
Institution	University of Plymouth
Department	Sch of Geog Earth & Environ Sciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	20,063
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/01/2020
End date	31/07/2020
Duration	7 months

Abstract

The Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes is the world's most glaciated tropical mountain range, however over the last four decades glacier extent has reduced by 25%, with significant implications for freshwater resources. Glaciers are essential to water supplies in the Cordillera Blanca for domestic water consumption, agriculture, industry, and hydroelectricity production within the increasingly populated region. For mountain communities in the Cordillera Blanca, glacial melt provides up to two thirds of dry season water supply and up to 91% during drought years. The impact of glacier retreat on downstream stakeholders is thus extremely important for water, food, and energy security, yet these issues remain poorly communicated to the public. To address this we have designed a citizen science project, GlacierMap, which will enable participants to map glacier outlines in the Cordillera Blanca from satellite imagery across multiple time periods using a free web-based mapping tool. GlacierMap will contribute to the creation of a new database for glacier area change, and help to increase public awareness of mountain glacier retreat, changes to meltwater production, and implications for water, food, and energy security. Secondary school geography participants in the UK have been identified as the primary target audience for this pilot project to maximise the added value of the activity: upskilling of GIS, raising the profile of glaciology in education, and increasing awareness of the downstream impacts of glacier retreat. The results of this pilot project will feed directly into the NERC-funded SIGMA project by helping to inform patterns of glacier change in the region, which together with hydrological data will be used to assess future risk to water supply. Following analysis of the success of the tool for both data generation and learning, GlacierMap will also be used within the SIGMA project for educational and stakeholder engagement activities in Peru.

Summary

Mountain glaciers and ice caps make up 4% of total glacier ice on the Earth's surface, however these smaller glaciers have been contributing more to sea level rise in recent years than the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined, and are an important source of freshwater. In total, glaciers, ice caps, and the ice sheets contain around 70% of global freshwater, with glaciers feeding many of the world's great rivers. Hundreds of millions of people rely on glaciers as a freshwater source for at least part of the year, and they are particularly important in mountain glacier regions such as the Himalaya and the Andes where meltwater contributes to drinking water, food production, and power generation. In the Rio Santa catchment of Peru, glacial meltwater from the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes provides 10-20% of annual river discharge, but this can exceed 40% during the dry season and reach 90% during years affected by drought. This is not only an issue for drinking water and irrigation, but also for energy production, as around half of Peru's electricity is generated via hydropower. The glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca comprise about 25% of all the tropical mountain glaciers on Earth, glacier cover in this region has decreased by around 35% in the last 40 years. Water is arguably the most exploited of natural resources, and around 70% of freshwater extraction is ultimately used for agriculture. Food production further compounds challenges around water use through land degradation caused by unsustainable land use practises, and around 30% of global energy consumption can also be attributed to food production and supply. There are increased pressures on food, water, and energy due to climate change, a growing population, changing land use, and economic growth. As glaciers in mountain areas retreat in response to a warming climate the production of meltwater increases until the glaciers shrink and reach a critical size, which is followed by an overall reduction in downstream freshwater discharge. This is termed "peak water" and has likely already been reached for many glaciers in the Peruvian Andes. Understanding the changes in glacier cover, impact on freshwater availability, and their relationship with regional climate change is crucial so that communities can find ways to become more resilient to changing availability of resources. To improve public understanding of these challenges and to create a new database of glacier area change in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, we plan to develop a free, online tool called GlacierMap which will allow participants to contribute to improved knowledge of glacier change in this region. The citizen science project will involve volunteers mapping the outlines of individual glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca for a number of different years. The mapping will be conducted by visual interpretation of satellite images, and subsequent comparison of mapped glacier extents over different time periods will allow for analysis of glacier area change in this region. The data created will be freely available for both research and educational use, and the data will feed into a larger research project (SIGMA: Peru) which looks to evaluate the past, current, and future contribution of glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca to downstream water resources, and help to develop solutions for adaptation to decreased freshwater availability in downstream communities. GlacierMap will initially be run as a pilot study with UK secondary school geography pupils, to assess the value of the tool for data collection and as a learning activity to improve understanding of glacier change and water resources. If successful we will also be using GlacierMap within the SIGMA project to engage with local school pupils and other members of the community within the Rio Santa catchment, and provide an opportunity for UK and Peruvian pupils to connect through an online discussion platform to share their understanding of global challenges.

Impact Summary

Our impact strategy for this pilot study encompasses four key stakeholder groups within the UK: (1) educators; (2) secondary school pupils; (3) the general public; (4) scientists both conducting and communicating research around the impacts of climatic and environmental change. For all four UK key stakeholder groups we expect that the GlacierMap citizen science project will increase awareness and understanding of the impacts of glacier retreat on downstream water, food, and energy security. These impacts will be evaluated through the implementation of pre- and post-mapping exercise surveys. We anticipate that once established, this pilot study will be extended to participants in Peru, including teachers and their students, and key stakeholder groups within the local population of the Rio Santa catchment. (1) Educators: The primary legacy of the project will be the creation of a user-friendly educational resource which will remain freely available as a teaching resource via ArcGIS Online. This can be used to contribute to GIS skill development at secondary school level, offering support to teachers who look for resources to help bring GIS and contemporary glaciology into the classroom. The project will also generate resources for further teaching activities following evaluation of the pilot study. (2) Pupils: GlacierMap will help to bring aspects of the national curriculum to life for secondary school participants through the interactive nature of the mapping exercise, contributing to an improved understanding of the impacts of glacier retreat on downstream communities. The online platform will also include an anonymous forum for exchange between UK and Peruvian participants, allowing for discussion around water security, glacier retreat and the impacts of environmental change between nations with different environmental challenges. Ultimately, we hope our project will help to nurture a future generation become more passionate about research, innovation and environmental issues. (3) General public: The project will act as a vehicle for scientific outreach by diversifying the methods by which the public can interact with environmental research. Participants will experience ownership of the research as they contribute to building this citizen science glacier inventory. The outreach event, related to World Water Day, will also help to raise public awareness of threats to water security in glacier-fed catchments. (4) Scientists: The project will generate a citizen science glacier inventory which will allow us as scientists to draw upon this "crowd sourced" data to explore temporal and spatial patterns of glacier change in the Cordillera Blanca, and assess the value of citizen science for environmental monitoring of this nature. If the mapping is deemed successful, it will act as a proof-of-concept for citizen science glacier inventories in other regions. The study will also produce qualitative data to help contribute towards our understanding of the impact of participation in citizen science on awareness and perception of global environmental issues. Following completion of the pilot study, our hope is that GlacierMap can be used as a tool to contribute positively to our interactions with local stakeholders and schools in the Cordillera Blanca during work on our SIGMA project.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Citizen Science Exploration Grant [2019]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search