---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '22555'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: The current Chilean megadrought has led to acute water shortages in central
    Chile since 2010.Glaciers have provided vital fresh water to the region's rivers,
    but the quantity, timing and sustainability ofthat provision remain unclear. Here
    we combine in-situ, remote sensing and climate reanalysis data to showthat from
    2010 to 2018 during the megadrought, unsustainable imbalance ablation of glaciers
    (ablation notbalanced by new snowfall) strongly buffered the late-summer discharge
    of the Maipo River, a primary sourceof water to Santiago. If there had been no
    glaciers, water availability would have been reduced from Decemberthrough May,
    with a 31 ± 19% decrease during March. Our results indicate that while the annual
    contributionsof imbalance ablation to river discharge during the megadrought have
    been small compared to those fromprecipitation and sustainable balance ablation,
    they have nevertheless been a substantial input to a hydrologicalsystem that was
    already experiencing high water stress. The water-equivalent volume of imbalance
    ablationgenerated in the Maipo Basin between 2010 and 2018 was 740 × 10 6 m 3
    (19 ± 12 mm yr −1), approximately 3.4times the capacity of the basin's El Yeso
    Reservoir. This is equivalent to 14% of Santiago's potable water use inthat time,
    while total glacier ablation was equivalent to 59%. We show that glacier retreat
    will exacerbate riverdischarge deficits and further jeopardize water availability
    in central Chile if precipitation deficits endure, andconjecture that these effects
    will be amplified by climatic warming.
article_number: e2022EF002852
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: McCarthy, Michael
  last_name: McCarthy
- first_name: Fabienne
  full_name: Meier, Fabienne
  last_name: Meier
- first_name: Simone
  full_name: Fatichi, Simone
  id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6
  last_name: Fatichi
- first_name: Benjamin D.
  full_name: Stocker, Benjamin D.
  last_name: Stocker
- first_name: Thomas E.
  full_name: Shaw, Thomas E.
  last_name: Shaw
- first_name: Evan
  full_name: Miles, Evan
  last_name: Miles
- first_name: Inés
  full_name: Dussaillant, Inés
  last_name: Dussaillant
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  last_name: Pellicciotti
citation:
  ama: McCarthy M, Meier F, Fatichi S, et al. Glacier contributions to river discharge
    during the current chilean megadrought. <i>Earth’s Future</i>. 2022;10(10). doi:<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852">10.1029/2022ef002852</a>
  apa: McCarthy, M., Meier, F., Fatichi, S., Stocker, B. D., Shaw, T. E., Miles, E.,
    … Pellicciotti, F. (2022). Glacier contributions to river discharge during the
    current chilean megadrought. <i>Earth’s Future</i>. American Geophysical Union.
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852">https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852</a>
  chicago: McCarthy, Michael, Fabienne Meier, Simone Fatichi, Benjamin D. Stocker,
    Thomas E. Shaw, Evan Miles, Inés Dussaillant, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “Glacier
    Contributions to River Discharge during the Current Chilean Megadrought.” <i>Earth’s
    Future</i>. American Geophysical Union, 2022. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852">https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852</a>.
  ieee: M. McCarthy <i>et al.</i>, “Glacier contributions to river discharge during
    the current chilean megadrought,” <i>Earth’s Future</i>, vol. 10, no. 10. American
    Geophysical Union, 2022.
  ista: McCarthy M, Meier F, Fatichi S, Stocker BD, Shaw TE, Miles E, Dussaillant
    I, Pellicciotti F. 2022. Glacier contributions to river discharge during the current
    chilean megadrought. Earth’s Future. 10(10), e2022EF002852.
  mla: McCarthy, Michael, et al. “Glacier Contributions to River Discharge during
    the Current Chilean Megadrought.” <i>Earth’s Future</i>, vol. 10, no. 10, e2022EF002852,
    American Geophysical Union, 2022, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852">10.1029/2022ef002852</a>.
  short: M. McCarthy, F. Meier, S. Fatichi, B.D. Stocker, T.E. Shaw, E. Miles, I.
    Dussaillant, F. Pellicciotti, Earth’s Future 10 (2022).
das_tickbox: '1'
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:24Z
date_published: 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-08-06T13:58:29Z
day: '01'
doi: 10.1029/2022ef002852
extern: '1'
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ef002852
intvolume: '        10'
issue: '10'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: ' https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002852'
month: '10'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Earth's Future
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2328-4277
publication_status: published
publisher: American Geophysical Union
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Glacier contributions to river discharge during the current chilean megadrought
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: 10
year: '2022'
...