A geophysical and glaciological survey of the highest tropical mountain glaciers (Mt. Huascarán, Andes)

Abstract Peru hosts a significant portion of the world’s tropical glaciers, which are undergoing rapid mass loss due to climate change. Knowledge of the ice volume and bedrock topography of these glaciers is important for predicting changes in glacier dynamics, runoff, and interpreting ice-core records. This study presents results from glaciological and geophysical surveys conducted during a 2019 expedition to Nevado Huascarán, Peru’s highest mountain when four ice cores were extracted from the col and summit. Ground-penetrating radar measurements provided detailed ice thickness and snow accumulation data, highlighting complex internal glacier structure and indicated that the climatic records obtained from ice cores recovered in 2019 were continuous and extended past the Holocene. Ice flow modeling enabled investigation of glacier dynamics. It was shown that the upstream effect on ice-core record is minimal. Comparison with ice thickness modeling data for Huascarán from various sources revealed significant discrepancies with measured ice thicknesses, suggesting that the inversion methods underestimate ice thickness for the accumulation zones of mountain glaciers. This research contributes data for understanding glacier behavior in the context of climate change and for modeling efforts for better assessments of water resources, potential geohazards and paleoclimatic interpretations.