How does climatic variability affect the Highland Lagoons of the venezuelan Andes?

The influence of climate variability in the highland headwater lagoons of the Miguaguó watershed - Venezuela was evaluated from an initially defined time series of 46 years, climatologically classified by the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI). 18 climatologically different sample years were selected with the availability of Landsat imagery to evaluate the degree of surface water extent fluctuation using the Normalized Water Index (NDWI). The NDWI values were then statistically compared with the ONI and with local climate parameters, and the percentage deviations of the anomalies from the averaged neutral years were estimated. The results showed that the surface water extent of the lagoons is affected by the combination of ENSO, anti-ENSO anomalies and neutral years, although the effect is different depending on the location of the lagoons in the landscape, biophysical conditions and the intensity of the anomalies. Mapire, La Burra and Masiegal lagoons showed “severe” impact, with deviations from the surface water extent in neutral years ranging from 20 to 70%. On the other hand, the impact on the Miguaguo lagoon was mostly “slight”, with deviations ranging from 0 to 10%. Positive deviations derived from anti-ENSO events and neutral conditions were generally dominant, except for La Burra lagoon, where the opposite trend was observed. Although the results were clear and conclusive, they have a limited spatial and temporal scope due to the complexity of the processes involved. Therefore, additional research is needed to complete the understanding of the climatic and atmospheric relationships in the processes governing the highlands of the tropics.