RECENT ADVANCES IN MONITORING AND MODELING OF THE CRYOSPHERE IN THE 
EXTRATROPICAL ANDES CORDILLERA

Abstract:

Despite its importance as a water source for millions of people in Chile and Argentina, the 
cryosphere of the extratropical Andes Cordillera remains relatively unexplored compared with 
other large mountain areas in the world. This presentation shows recent research on the physical 
processes that control snow and ice accumulation and melt in this region, including new 
observations at the point and hillslope scales. This information is combined with 
state-of-the-art physically based modeling for reliable hydrologic predictions, and preliminary 
results are very promising. Future avenues of research include incorporating explicit 
glacio-hydrologic representation at a large scale, validating snow redistribution and sublimation 
estimates, and validating remotely sensed snow cover estimates for the purpose of model 
calibration.


James McPhee, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas y Matematicas, Univ. de Chile
Av. Blanco Encalada 2002 of. 116, Santiago 8370449
+56-2-29784376
www.ingcivil.uchile.cl