---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '19839'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: The snow and glaciers of the Peruvian Andes provide vital water supplies in
    a region facing water scarcity and substantial glacier change. However, there
    remains a lack of understanding of snow processes and quantification of the contribution
    of melt to runoff. Here we apply a distributed glacio-hydrological model over
    the Rio Santa basin to disentangle the role of the cryosphere in the Andean water
    cycle. Only at the highest elevations (>5000 m a.s.l.) is the snow cover continuous;
    at lower elevations, the snowpack is thin and ephemeral, with rapid cycles of
    snowfall and melt. Due to the large catchment area affected by ephemeral snow,
    its contribution to catchment inputs is substantial (23% and 38% in the wet and
    dry season, respectively). Ice melt is crucial in the mid-dry season (up to 44%
    of inputs). Our results improve estimates of water fluxes and call for further
    process-based modelling across the Andes.
acknowledgement: This work was conducted under the PeruGROWS and PEGASUS projects,
  which were both funded by NERC (grants NE/S013296/1 and NE/S013318/1, respectively)
  and CONCYTEC through the Newton-Paulet Fund. The Peruvian part of the Peru GROWS
  project was conducted within the framework of the call E031-2018-01-NERC Glacier
  Research Circles through its executing unit FONDECYT (Contract N°08-2019-FONDECYT).
  Francesca Pellicciotti acknowledges support from the SNSF-funded PASTURE project,
  grant no. 202604. Catriona Fyffe was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action
  project EPIC, which was funded by the European Union (grant number 101105480). We
  thank Florian von Ah for calculating the altitudinally resolved glacier mass balances
  for the catchment. We also thank Duncan Quincey for his support and guidance within
  both the PeruGROWS and PEGASUS projects. Gerardo Jacome and Alan Llacza are thanked
  for their contribution to the climate modelling. We thank Ignacio López-Moreno and
  Simon Gascoin for their thoughtful and constructive comments, which greatly improved
  the manuscript. The team dedicates this work to the memory of Ing. Alejo Cochachin
  Rapre, and his tireless work to monitor the region’s glaciers.
article_number: '434'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Catriona Louise
  full_name: Fyffe, Catriona Louise
  id: 001b0422-8d15-11ed-bc51-cab6c037a228
  last_name: Fyffe
- first_name: Emily
  full_name: Potter, Emily
  last_name: Potter
- first_name: Evan
  full_name: Miles, Evan
  last_name: Miles
- first_name: Thomas
  full_name: Shaw, Thomas
  id: 3caa3f91-1f03-11ee-96ce-e0e553054d6e
  last_name: Shaw
  orcid: 0000-0001-7640-6152
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: Mccarthy, Michael
  id: 22a2674a-61ce-11ee-94b5-d18813baf16f
  last_name: Mccarthy
- first_name: Andrew
  full_name: Orr, Andrew
  last_name: Orr
- first_name: Edwin
  full_name: Loarte, Edwin
  last_name: Loarte
- first_name: Katy
  full_name: Medina, Katy
  last_name: Medina
- first_name: Simone
  full_name: Fatichi, Simone
  last_name: Fatichi
- first_name: Rob
  full_name: Hellström, Rob
  last_name: Hellström
- first_name: Michel
  full_name: Baraer, Michel
  last_name: Baraer
- first_name: Emilio
  full_name: Mateo, Emilio
  last_name: Mateo
- first_name: Alejo
  full_name: Cochachin, Alejo
  last_name: Cochachin
- first_name: Matthew
  full_name: Westoby, Matthew
  last_name: Westoby
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
  orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
citation:
  ama: Fyffe CL, Potter E, Miles E, et al. Thin and ephemeral snow shapes melt and
    runoff dynamics in the Peruvian Andes. <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>.
    2025;6. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x">10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x</a>
  apa: Fyffe, C. L., Potter, E., Miles, E., Shaw, T., McCarthy, M., Orr, A., … Pellicciotti,
    F. (2025). Thin and ephemeral snow shapes melt and runoff dynamics in the Peruvian
    Andes. <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x</a>
  chicago: Fyffe, Catriona Louise, Emily Potter, Evan Miles, Thomas Shaw, Michael
    McCarthy, Andrew Orr, Edwin Loarte, et al. “Thin and Ephemeral Snow Shapes Melt
    and Runoff Dynamics in the Peruvian Andes.” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>.
    Springer Nature, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x</a>.
  ieee: C. L. Fyffe <i>et al.</i>, “Thin and ephemeral snow shapes melt and runoff
    dynamics in the Peruvian Andes,” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>,
    vol. 6. Springer Nature, 2025.
  ista: Fyffe CL, Potter E, Miles E, Shaw T, McCarthy M, Orr A, Loarte E, Medina K,
    Fatichi S, Hellström R, Baraer M, Mateo E, Cochachin A, Westoby M, Pellicciotti
    F. 2025. Thin and ephemeral snow shapes melt and runoff dynamics in the Peruvian
    Andes. Communications Earth and Environment. 6, 434.
  mla: Fyffe, Catriona Louise, et al. “Thin and Ephemeral Snow Shapes Melt and Runoff
    Dynamics in the Peruvian Andes.” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>,
    vol. 6, 434, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x">10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x</a>.
  short: C.L. Fyffe, E. Potter, E. Miles, T. Shaw, M. McCarthy, A. Orr, E. Loarte,
    K. Medina, S. Fatichi, R. Hellström, M. Baraer, E. Mateo, A. Cochachin, M. Westoby,
    F. Pellicciotti, Communications Earth and Environment 6 (2025).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-06-15T22:01:28Z
date_published: 2025-06-05T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-30T12:48:43Z
day: '05'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02379-x
external_id:
  isi:
  - '001503932400002'
  pmid:
  - '40486185'
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  date_created: 2025-06-23T06:41:15Z
  date_updated: 2025-06-23T06:41:15Z
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file_date_updated: 2025-06-23T06:41:15Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         6'
isi: 1
language:
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license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '06'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: bdbe6627-d553-11ed-ba76-b5c9eedf278f
  grant_number: '101105480'
  name: ExPloring the ecohydrological Impacts of a changing Cryosphere in the Peruvian
    Andes
publication: Communications Earth and Environment
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2662-4435
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Thin and ephemeral snow shapes melt and runoff dynamics in the Peruvian Andes
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 6
year: '2025'
...
---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '20348'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Central Asia hosts some of the world’s last relatively healthy mountain glaciers
    and is heavily dependent on snow and ice melt for downstream water supply, though
    the causes of this stable glacier state are not known. We combine recent in-situ
    observations, climate reanalysis and remote sensing data to force a land-surface
    model to reconstruct glacier changes over the last two decades (1999–2023) and
    disentangle their causes over a benchmark glacierized catchment in Tajikistan.
    We show that snowfall and snow depth have been substantially lower since 2018,
    leading to a decline in glacier health and reduced runoff generation. Remote-sensing
    observations confirm wider snow depletion across the Northwestern Pamirs, suggesting
    that a lack of snowfall might be a cause of mass losses regionally. Our results
    provide an explanation for the recent decline in glacier health in the region,
    and reinforce the need to better understand the variability of precipitation.
acknowledgement: This work was made possible with funding from the Swiss National
  Science Foundation (ASCENT Project 189890, Understanding snow, glacier and rivers
  response to climate in High Mountain Asia). It was also supported by the ERC Consolidator
  RAVEN project No. 772751, Rapid mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain
  Asia. Fieldwork funding support for the repeated visits to Tajikistan was also received
  from the Swiss Polar Institute Flagship Programme PAMIR (SPI-FLAG-2021-001) and
  the Swiss National Science Foundation (HOPE Project 183633, High-elevation precipitation
  in High Mountain Asia). We would like to thank Firdavs Vosidov, Ubaydullo Ubaydulloev,
  Tojiddin Rasulzoda and Iskandarov Handullo from the Center for the Research of Glaciers,
  Tajik National Academy of Sciences (CRG-TAS), for their invaluable support over
  multiple field campaigns at the study site. We thank Nazrialo Sheralizoda, current
  director of CRG-TAS, and Tomas Saks from the University of Fribourg for their support
  in enabling and coordinating the ongoing collaborative monitoring and measurements
  at the site. Marin Kneib acknowledges the funding from the Swiss National Science
  Foundation (SNSF) under the Contribution of avalanches to glacier mass balance (CAIRN)
  Postdoc Mobility program (grant agreement P500PN_210739). We extend our thanks to
  Hamish Pritchard and Federico Covi at BAS for their help with the processing of
  lake water pressure data. Finally, we thank the photographer Jason Klimatsas for
  the photos he took which we use in Fig. 1b and Supplementary Fig. S1. Pleiades stereo
  imagery was acquired through the CNES ISIS programme.
article_number: '691'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Achille
  full_name: Jouberton, Achille
  id: f2426a39-920b-11f0-ac40-cbeda2086b9c
  last_name: Jouberton
- first_name: Thomas
  full_name: Shaw, Thomas
  id: 3caa3f91-1f03-11ee-96ce-e0e553054d6e
  last_name: Shaw
  orcid: 0000-0001-7640-6152
- first_name: Evan
  full_name: Miles, Evan
  last_name: Miles
- first_name: Marin
  full_name: Kneib, Marin
  last_name: Kneib
- first_name: Stefan
  full_name: Fugger, Stefan
  id: 86698d64-c4c6-11ee-af02-cdf1e6a7d31f
  last_name: Fugger
- first_name: Pascal
  full_name: Buri, Pascal
  id: 317987aa-9421-11ee-ac5a-b941b041abba
  last_name: Buri
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: Mccarthy, Michael
  id: 22a2674a-61ce-11ee-94b5-d18813baf16f
  last_name: Mccarthy
- first_name: Abdulhamid
  full_name: Kayumov, Abdulhamid
  last_name: Kayumov
- first_name: Hofiz
  full_name: Navruzshoev, Hofiz
  last_name: Navruzshoev
- first_name: Ardamehr
  full_name: Halimov, Ardamehr
  last_name: Halimov
- first_name: Khusrav
  full_name: Kabutov, Khusrav
  last_name: Kabutov
- first_name: Farrukh
  full_name: Homidov, Farrukh
  last_name: Homidov
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
  orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
citation:
  ama: Jouberton A, Shaw T, Miles E, et al. Snowfall decrease in recent years undermines
    glacier health and meltwater resources in the Northwestern Pamirs. <i>Communications
    Earth and Environment</i>. 2025;6. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8">10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8</a>
  apa: Jouberton, A., Shaw, T., Miles, E., Kneib, M., Fugger, S., Buri, P., … Pellicciotti,
    F. (2025). Snowfall decrease in recent years undermines glacier health and meltwater
    resources in the Northwestern Pamirs. <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>.
    Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8</a>
  chicago: Jouberton, Achille, Thomas Shaw, Evan Miles, Marin Kneib, Stefan Fugger,
    Pascal Buri, Michael McCarthy, et al. “Snowfall Decrease in Recent Years Undermines
    Glacier Health and Meltwater Resources in the Northwestern Pamirs.” <i>Communications
    Earth and Environment</i>. Springer Nature, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8</a>.
  ieee: A. Jouberton <i>et al.</i>, “Snowfall decrease in recent years undermines
    glacier health and meltwater resources in the Northwestern Pamirs,” <i>Communications
    Earth and Environment</i>, vol. 6. Springer Nature, 2025.
  ista: Jouberton A, Shaw T, Miles E, Kneib M, Fugger S, Buri P, McCarthy M, Kayumov
    A, Navruzshoev H, Halimov A, Kabutov K, Homidov F, Pellicciotti F. 2025. Snowfall
    decrease in recent years undermines glacier health and meltwater resources in
    the Northwestern Pamirs. Communications Earth and Environment. 6, 691.
  mla: Jouberton, Achille, et al. “Snowfall Decrease in Recent Years Undermines Glacier
    Health and Meltwater Resources in the Northwestern Pamirs.” <i>Communications
    Earth and Environment</i>, vol. 6, 691, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8">10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8</a>.
  short: A. Jouberton, T. Shaw, E. Miles, M. Kneib, S. Fugger, P. Buri, M. McCarthy,
    A. Kayumov, H. Navruzshoev, A. Halimov, K. Kabutov, F. Homidov, F. Pellicciotti,
    Communications Earth and Environment 6 (2025).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-09-14T22:01:31Z
date_published: 2025-09-02T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-28T13:25:55Z
day: '02'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02611-8
external_id:
  isi:
  - '001563848700001'
  pmid:
  - '40910036'
file:
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2025-09-15T08:16:09Z
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has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         6'
isi: 1
language:
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month: '09'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
publication: Communications Earth and Environment
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2662-4435
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - description: News on ISTA website
    relation: press_release
    url: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/the-tipping-of-the-last-resilient-glaciers/
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Snowfall decrease in recent years undermines glacier health and meltwater resources
  in the Northwestern Pamirs
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
volume: 6
year: '2025'
...
---
APC_amount: 3654 EUR
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '20703'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Glacier melt sustains water discharge from mountain basins during droughts,
    but ongoing glacier retreat threatens this fundamental capacity. Here, we assess
    the response of glaciers in the Southern Andes to one of the most severe, persistent,
    and extensive droughts on record in South America (2010-present), and to projected
    end-of-century megadroughts. Using glacio-hydrological numerical simulations,
    we show that despite a mean annual precipitation deficit of 36%, glacier runoff
    in 2010-2019 remained almost unaltered compared to the preceding decade (2000-2009),
    sustained by a 10% loss of total ice volume. However, simulations of future glacier
    evolution indicate that annual and summer glacier runoff could decline by up to
    20 ± 11% and 48 ± 6%, respectively, during end-of-century megadroughts compared
    to pre-2010 levels. Our results project a weakening of the glacier’s buffering
    role against precipitation deficits during extreme droughts, increasing water
    scarcity for ecosystems and livelihoods in the mountain regions of South America.
acknowledgement: 'This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science
  Fund (FWF), DOI: 10.55776/16891. The project MegaWat has received funding from the
  Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Centre
  for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), Dutch Research Council (NWO),
  National Research Council (CNR) and the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme
  under the 2022 Joint Transnational Call of the European Partnership Water4all (Grant
  Agreement n°101060874). Á.A. acknowledges Fondecyt Postdoc No. 3190732, the WSL
  programme ‘Extremes’ through the EMERGE project and together with S.M. ANID-CENTROS
  REGIONALES R20F0008. E.M.C. thanks ANID National Master scholarship year 2020 N°22200599
  and the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant 200021_214907. P.A.M. acknowledges
  support from the Fondecyt project No. 11200142, and ANID/PIA project No AFB230001.'
article_number: '860'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Álvaro
  full_name: Ayala, Álvaro
  last_name: Ayala
- first_name: Eduardo
  full_name: Muñoz-Castro, Eduardo
  last_name: Muñoz-Castro
- first_name: Daniel
  full_name: Farinotti, Daniel
  last_name: Farinotti
- first_name: David
  full_name: Farías-Barahona, David
  last_name: Farías-Barahona
- first_name: Pablo A.
  full_name: Mendoza, Pablo A.
  last_name: Mendoza
- first_name: Shelley
  full_name: Macdonell, Shelley
  last_name: Macdonell
- first_name: James
  full_name: Mcphee, James
  last_name: Mcphee
- first_name: Ximena
  full_name: Vargas, Ximena
  last_name: Vargas
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
  orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
citation:
  ama: Ayala Á, Muñoz-Castro E, Farinotti D, et al. Less water from glaciers during
    future megadroughts in the Southern Andes. <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>.
    2025;6. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6">10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6</a>
  apa: Ayala, Á., Muñoz-Castro, E., Farinotti, D., Farías-Barahona, D., Mendoza, P.
    A., Macdonell, S., … Pellicciotti, F. (2025). Less water from glaciers during
    future megadroughts in the Southern Andes. <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>.
    Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6</a>
  chicago: Ayala, Álvaro, Eduardo Muñoz-Castro, Daniel Farinotti, David Farías-Barahona,
    Pablo A. Mendoza, Shelley Macdonell, James Mcphee, Ximena Vargas, and Francesca
    Pellicciotti. “Less Water from Glaciers during Future Megadroughts in the Southern
    Andes.” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>. Springer Nature, 2025. <a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6</a>.
  ieee: Á. Ayala <i>et al.</i>, “Less water from glaciers during future megadroughts
    in the Southern Andes,” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>, vol. 6. Springer
    Nature, 2025.
  ista: Ayala Á, Muñoz-Castro E, Farinotti D, Farías-Barahona D, Mendoza PA, Macdonell
    S, Mcphee J, Vargas X, Pellicciotti F. 2025. Less water from glaciers during future
    megadroughts in the Southern Andes. Communications Earth and Environment. 6, 860.
  mla: Ayala, Álvaro, et al. “Less Water from Glaciers during Future Megadroughts
    in the Southern Andes.” <i>Communications Earth and Environment</i>, vol. 6, 860,
    Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6">10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6</a>.
  short: Á. Ayala, E. Muñoz-Castro, D. Farinotti, D. Farías-Barahona, P.A. Mendoza,
    S. Macdonell, J. Mcphee, X. Vargas, F. Pellicciotti, Communications Earth and
    Environment 6 (2025).
date_created: 2025-11-30T23:02:06Z
date_published: 2025-12-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-05-20T08:02:48Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02845-6
external_id:
  isi:
  - '001617609200003'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 1b23ad585d6f305447b54c606be0c46d
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2025-12-01T09:10:13Z
  date_updated: 2025-12-01T09:10:13Z
  file_id: '20720'
  file_name: 2025_CommEarthEnvir_Ayala.pdf
  file_size: 2468843
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  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-12-01T09:10:13Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         6'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '12'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
project:
- _id: 8e4c5b0b-16d5-11f0-9cad-9fa5f341393c
  grant_number: I06891
  name: Megadroughts in the Water towers of Europe - from process understanding to
    strategies for
- _id: 3AC91DDA-15DF-11EA-824D-93A3E7B544D1
  call_identifier: FWF
  name: FWF Open Access Fund
publication: Communications Earth and Environment
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2662-4435
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - description: News on ISTA website
    relation: press_release
    url: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/the-future-fate-of-water-in-the-andes/
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Less water from glaciers during future megadroughts in the Southern Andes
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 6
year: '2025'
...