4th ANNUAL INARCH Workshop -
Santiago and Andes, Chile: 24-26 October 2018

24 scientists participated in the fourth INARCH workshop, organized under the leadership of Prof. James McPhee of the Universidad de Chile, Santiago. The workshop was split between the joint ANDEX - GHP - INARCH meeting in Santiago (24 October), and (from 25th - 26th October) the Hotel Portillo, at 2880 m.a.s.l. in the Andes, ~160 km north-east of Santiago

• Joint ANDEX - GHP - INARCH Meeting: agenda     PDF
   
  
• Workshop agenda     PDF
   
  
• Workshop opening statement     PDF
   
  
• Workshop closing statement     PDF
   
  
• Full abstract list     PDF
   
  
• Article in GEWEX News     PDF
   
  


• Invited Presentations:
   
  
  • Runoff Processes in Alpine Catchments: Challenges and Opportunities
    Sean Carey (School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada)
    Abstract      Slides
     
    
  • The 2010 Chile Mega-drought and its impacts on snow and glacier hydrology
    James McPhee (Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile)
    Abstract
     
    
  • The hydrological role of glaciers in the Atacama Desert
    Shelley MacDonell (Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas, Santiago, Chile)
    Abstract      Slides
     
    
  • Glacier monitoring in Chile
    Gino Casassa (Director, Department of Glaciology, Magellan University, Punta Arenas, Chile)
    Slides
     
    
  • The first national glacier inventory of Argentina
    Mariano Masiokas (Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, CCT CONICET Mendoza, Argentina)
    Abstract      Slides
     
    
  • A golden era for alpine catchments: the convergence of high-resolution atmospheric modeling, remote sensing, and hydrology
    Ethan Gutmann (Research Applications Laboratory, Hydrometeorological Applications Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado, USA)
    Abstract      Slides
     
    
  • Decoupling of mountain snowpacks from hydrology due to climate warming
    Juan Ignacio López Moreno (Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, CSIC, Huesca, Spain)
    Abstract      Slides
     
    
  • Snow albedo and its physical controls from the NASA Surface Biology and Geology imaging spectrometer mission
    Thomas Painter (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA)
    Abstract
     
    
• Posters:
   
  
  • HBV-IANIGLA for hydroclimatic studies in the Andes: A model for research purposes
    Toum Ezequiel and 2 others
    Poster
     
    
  • Impact of meteorological forcing data on snowpack and streamflow simulations in the Canadian Rockies
    Xing Fang, John Pomeroy
    Abstract      Poster      Introductory slides
     
    
  • Sagehen Creek Watershed, Sierra Nevada, USA: A long-term dataset for investigating groundwater-mediated streamflow response to variable maritime snowmelt and rainfall
    Adrian Harpold and 2 others
    Abstract     Poster      Introductory slides
     
    
  • Simulating hydrological processes at two mountainous sites underlined by continuous permafrost in northern Yukon, Canada
    Sebastian Krogh, John Pomeroy
    Abstract     Poster
     
    
  • Parsimonious hydroglaciological modeling for understanding the hydrological role of rock glaciers in the Andes of Central Chile
    Luis Marcoleta, James McPhee
    Poster
     
    
  • Correction of precipitation records through inverse modeling in watersheds of south-central Chile
    Enrique Muñoz and 3 others
    Poster
     
    
  • The key role of terrestrial imagery in semiarid mountainous areas: The snow monitoring system in Sierra Nevada (Spain)
    Rafael Pimentel and 3 others
    Abstract      Poster
     
    
  • How interactions between climate and vegetation impact hydrological processes in mountain headwater basins
    Kabir Rasouli and 4 others
    Abstract     Poster
     
    
  • Current status of meteorological and snow observations and reanalysis available in the French Alps
    Jesús Revuelto and 11 others
    Abstract      Poster
     
    
  • Can MODIS reflectance assimilation improve snowpack simulations in alpine terrain?
    Jesús Revuelto and 7 others
    Abstract     Poster
     
    
  • Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition for streamflow data analysis of snow-fed rivers along Central Andes of Argentina
    Juan Antonio Rivera and 3 others
    Abstract      Poster      Introductory slides
     
    
  • Snow depth distribution and storm events of high mountain Central Chile: A new experimental setup
    Thomas Shaw and 3 others
    Abstract      Poster
     
    
  • Mapping high elevation spatial snow depths using tri-stereo optical satellite imagery
    Thomas Shaw and 4 others
    Abstract      Poster
     
    
  • Characterization of snow processes and their implications on runoff generation. Semi-arid Andes - Central Chile
    Yohann Videla-Giering and 2 others
    Poster
     
    
• INARCH STATEMENT, October 2018:
   
  
  • INARCH has identified the importance of the changing High Mountain Water Cycle to global initiatives such as GEWEX, ANDEX, GWF, TPE and is contributing to a WMO High Mountain Summit and initiative. INARCH supports the idea of an International Year of Snow and Ice and also a year devoted to Mountain Prediction.
     
    
  • INARCH has published invaluable mountain catchment hydrometeorological datasets from around the world through a special issue of Earth System Science Data with 19 articles. It has expanded to 28 catchments with contributions from 45 scientists based around the world.
     
    
  • INARCH has identified dramatic snowpack decline and glacial retreat in the Andes and Patagonia as issues of global concern with some of the highest rates of glacial ablation in the world, due to both sublimation and melt. Global warming has included mountain mega-droughts in South America, causing hydrological shortages downstream. Complications in glacial modelling due to high sublimation rates, debris cover and the occurrence of penitent surfaces require physically based energy balance techniques for glacier hydrology in the Andes. Mining impacts on some of these glaciers are further accelerating ablation through direct disturbance and dust. An increasing number of glaciers are now debris-covered and so techniques to calculate icemelt under debris are needed in hydrological models. International and national mountain hydrology research programmes should prioritize research in the Andes to address these problems.
     
    
  • The advent of large-area, high-resolution atmospheric models at 4 km or less, now permits more confident meteorological drivers for advanced snow and glacier hydrology models in complex mountain terrain. The performance of these high resolution atmospheric models needs to be assessed at point and areal scales and spatial datasets for such assessments and for bias-correction need to be assembled. Global application of these products to mountains is needed. High resolution snow and ice hydrology models, including hillslope hydrology processes need development to take advantage of the more accurate alpine precipitation products that will result.
     
    
  • There is tremendous potential to assimilate high resolution remote sensing products such as snow depth from airborne LiDAR, albedo, grain size and impurities from hyperspectral sensors and visible snowcovered area from multiple platforms into advanced snow hydrology prediction models and some examples of this are occurring. Efforts are needed to demonstrate how more mountain ranges around the world can be measured by these products and how the outputs can be used together to improve snow prediction models.
     
    
  • INARCH has quantified the sensitivity of mountain snow hydrology regimes around the world using cold regions hydrological models of virtual alpine basins, driven by reanalysis data, and has shown that decoupling of the snow and hydrological regime with warming is most severe for temperate winter climates with winter precipitation maxima as typified by Mediterranean alpine environments. The results show the controls of both temperature and vapour pressure in determining the sensitivity of mountain snow hydrology to warming. This approach should be extended to examine the sensitivity of mountain glacier hydrology to global warming.
     
    
  • INARCH continues to examine the performance of alpine snow models in simple alpine environments by comparison of model outputs to diagnostic measurements in INARCH catchments. The next step should be to examine model performance in extreme alpine environments that are more typical of alpine landscapes.
     
    

INARCH 4th Annual workshop participants standing along the shore of Laguna del Inca at Portillo, Chile. From left to right: Luis Marcoleta, Shelley MacDonell, Mariano Masiokas, Pablo Mendoza, Jesús Revuelto, Nicole Schaefer, Juan Rivera, Enrique Muñoz, Yohann Videla, Sebastian Crespo, Thomas Shaw, John Pomeroy, Ethan Gutmann, Sebastian Krogh, Chris DeBeer, James McPhee, Thomas Painter, Roy Rasmussen, Ignacio López Moreno, Sean Carey. Missing: Rafael Pimentel, Robert Sandford, Gino Cassasa, Ezequiel Toum. More photos from the INARCH 4th Annual Meeting are available for viewing here.