An update on recent glacier changes in Mexico using Sentinel-2A data

作者：Veettil, Bijeesh Kozhikkodan^*; Wang, Shanshan

来源：Geografiska Annaler - Series A: Physical Geography , 2018, 100(3): 307-318.

DOI：10.1080/04353676.2018.1478672

• Mexican glaciers
• glacier retreat
• ice-covered volcanoes
• tropical glaciers
• mountain glaciers

This study estimated the recent evolution of three glacierized stratovolcanoes - namely Volcan Iztaccihuatl, Volcan Popocatepetl and Volcan Citlaltepetl - in South-central Mexico using Landsat and Sentinel-2A satellite data acquired between 1973 and 2017. These three glaciers are influenced by various factors such as climate change, volcanic eruption and pollution. Three key climate variables, which control the presence of glacier coverage - air temperature, precipitation and humidity - were also analysed. Among these three volcanoes, only Volcan Iztaccihuatl and Volcan Citlaltepetl have ice-covered areas since the late 1990s and Volcan Popocatepetl has lost its glaciers due to volcanic eruption, even though the glacier shrinkage has started long before the appearance of eruptive products. An overall glacier area loss of 75% has been observed for the period between 1973 and 2017. Shrinkage of Volcan Citlaltepetl (66%) is comparable with the retreat observed in the tropical Andes of Peru and Bolivia during the same period. Observed trends in the air temperature were not very significant for all the three glaciers studied whereas a substantial rise in relative humidity (+0.11%/year) was observed. Trends in precipitation were different for Citlaltepetl (+7.8mm/year) and the other two volcano-glaciers (-5.1mm/year).

• 出版日期2018
• 单位中国气象局兰州干旱气象研究所