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The article focuses on a study about glacier recession and its impact on the hydrological regime for various water resources in Cordillera Blanca in Peru. It notes that glacier recession can produce a limited transitory increase in runoff during mass loss which results into reduced ice volume and a decrease in runoff followed by a significant increase in annual runoff for a few decades. Results show that the watersheds in the Cordillera Blanca are exhibiting a decline in annual and dry-season discharge. The study suggests that lower discharges will occur upon the complete melting of the glaciers.

Glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are undergoing rapid retreat, in large part due to climate change. These changes are significantly altering water availability in the region and pose critical risks to local populations that are highly dependent on these resources for livelihoods. We examine these issues through an interdisciplinary and linked evaluation of hydrological change and livelihood vulnerability in the Yanamarey watershed. Physical observations of the Yanamarey glacier show acceleration in frontal retreat at a rate of 8 m decade since 1970, accompanied by total volume loss on the order of 0.022 km. Hydrological and hydrochemical analyses document a possible transformation of stream flow over the past decade as the seasonal storage capacity of the glacier has degraded. Recent stream discharge measurements from the proglacial lake below the glacier are more coincident with the highly variable seasonal precipitation than they were during the 1998-1999 hydrological year. Local household perceptions of glacier recession and seasonal hydrological variability agree with this trend, which is increasing human vulnerability in the watershed. Household case-study survey results demonstrate that shifting water resources, increasing weather extremes and climate-related threats to tourism are all new vectors of vulnerability for household livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Tropical glaciers supply approximately half of dry-season stream discharge in glacierized valleys of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. The remainder of streamflow originates as groundwater stored in alpine meadows and other proglacial geomorphic features. A better understanding of the hydrogeology of alpine groundwater, including sources, storage zones, and the locations and magnitudes of contributions to streamflow, is important for making accurate estimates of glacial inputs to the hydrologic budget, and for our ability to make predictions about future water resources as glaciers retreat. This field study focuses on two high-elevation meadows in valleys of the Cordillera Blanca, in headwaters and mid-valley locations. Tracer measurements of stream and spring discharge and groundwater-surface water exchange were combined with synoptic sampling of water isotopic and geochemical composition in order to characterize and quantify contributions to streamflow from different groundwater reservoirs. At the headwaters site, groundwater supplied approximately half of stream discharge from a small meadow, with most originating in an alluvial fan adjacent to the meadow and little (6%) from the meadow itself; however, at the mid-valley site, where meadows are extensive, local groundwater has a large impact on streamflow and chemistry through large net contributions to discharge and turnover of surface water due to gross exchanges with groundwater. At the mid-valley site, stream discharge increased by 200 L s −1 (18% of average discharge) over 1.2 km as it descended a moraine between two meadows. Such valley-crossing moraines, which create significant steps in the down-valley slope, are likely locations of substantial groundwater contribution to streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]