Cordillera Vilcanota

Regional glacier system, Cusco

glaciers
Regional ice field: ICESat‑2 elevation change, InSAR and hydrometeorology.

ICESat‑2 consolidated InSAR diagnostic

Stratified ice formations and snow in a high-mountain landscape
MeteoAndes archive · 2026 campaignExact site and authorship pending validation
Representative field-archive image; validate the original metadata before using it as a site-specific record.

Regional unit

The analysed AOI covers 269.02 km² before the internal buffer and 254.01 km² after a 15 m buffer, with 190 polygons and elevations of approximately 4,597–6,364 m.

Main result

The area-weighted regional rate is −1.463 m yr⁻¹ (95% CI: −2.357 to −0.596), representing 96.5% of the AOI. At 850 kg m⁻³ this corresponds to −1.243 m water equivalent yr⁻¹ (95% CI: −2.011 to −0.476).

The strongest negative trends occur at lower and middle-lower elevations. High-elevation bands have weaker support and wider uncertainty.

InSAR context

The audited series has 33 ascending and 35 descending acquisitions on a 40 m EPSG:32719 grid. Monthly dU examples (+0.23 and −0.58 cm) are close to the 0.63–0.65 cm stable residual. Cumulative products and consistent uncertainty are required before a regional InSAR rate is reported.

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