Effects of ENSO in the Antisana’s Glacier Retreat By: Belén Begnini, Raquel Baldeón and Mateo Rivadeneira 29/04/2015

“El Niño”

Big Question Did you know that ENSO (El Niño) also affects the glaciers?

Background Info ENSO is the result of the change in ocean temperatures. Climate variations cause heat waves, droughts, floods, tornadoes and many other disasters. Enso is created when the winds arent strong enough to push the water into Africa, Indonesia and the eastern part of Asia. So the warm water stays in the pacific ocean and the ocean temperature rises. ENSO has many effects on humans life like fires, flooding, and hurricanes. With these disasters there had been 1,000 to 2,000 deaths that were blamed on ¨El Niño.¨ To measure ENSO scientists have found different projects to identify it. Examples are sea level measurements from NASA satellites, examining currents and another way is by measurements taken in the water.

More than 99% of the world's tropical glaciers are located in the Andes Mountains in South America. Studies have found that the glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate. Some glaciers in Ecuador are also located on volcanoes. The Antisana glacier (15) had a fast retreat between 1995 and It had a slower advance from and in 2008 the Antisana had gained ice, but since that date it began to retreat again.

Years of “El Niño”and “La Niña” El Niño La Niña Weak ModStrongWeakModStrong

Our Lab Reaserch Question: Does ¨El Niño¨ have an effect on the mass in the Antisana Glacier? Explanation: First we took the temperatures for 7 months of the Galapagos Central 2 (Starting with September). When we gathered all the data we found the average for all the 7 months. With the data of the averages we created a scatter plot with a best fit line. For the best fit line we had to find the slope, y-intercept and the equation. We used the data for the past 5 years of the Southern Islands to see some pattern. For these data we had also a scatter plot and an equation. We had also data for the Antisana Glacier 15 so we created a table and a scatter plot with an equation. Central 2

Graph and Table for Galapagos Central Average Sea Surface Temperatures for the Galapagos Central 2 Islands Month# of MonthAvg Temp September October November December January February March726.76

Calculations for the Galapagos Central 2 Islands

Graph and Table for Galapagos Southern Islands Average Sea Surface Temperature (SST) for the Galápagos Southern Islands Year# of YearAvg Temp (C°) y = 0.473x

Graph and Table for the Antisana’s Glaciers Antisana's Glaciers 15 Retreat Year# of YearArea (m 2 ) , ,

Conclusion In conclusion ENSO has a big impact in human lives and in the glaciers. During 5 years there has been a growth of 2 degrees in the ocean temperatures. There is a correlationship between the growth in the ocean temperatures and the retreat of the glaciers. So in 6 years we can identify that the area of the glaciers will be of 9,331m 2 since we created this equation y=-16804(21) and the answer was 9,331m 2. Also in 6 years we can identify by using the equation y=0.473(11) that the ocean temperatures will decrease to ºC.

Bibliography Lindsey Harrimana, (September 2013). Where will the water go? Impacts of accelerated glacier melt in the Tropical Andes. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from Jan Null, CCM(April 9, 2015) El Niño and La Niña Years and Intensities. Retrieved April 28,2015 from Asya Pereltsvaig (May 15, 2014). The Settlement of Hawaii and the Surprising El Nino Effect. Retrieved April 28, 2015 from surprising-el-nino-effect.html (March 31, 2015) El Niño floods Peru, Chile and Ecuador. Retrieved April from James Painter (April ). Scientists investigate Ecuador's receding glaciers. Retrieve Apriel 28, 2015 from