Impact of enso in the retreat of Ecuadorian glaciers By: Matías Miranda, Juan Martin Andrade, Sara de la Puente

Introduction: Did you know, the Ecuadorian glaciers lost 22% in the past 48 years?

Background information ENSO: ENSO stands for, El Niño Southern Oscillation. Two types of changes are El Niño and La Niña. EL Niño causes the easterly trade winds move warm water against the western part of the Pacific and occurs typically every three to seven years. La Niña causes the water to become colder and land to become dry. To prevent a major disasters caused by ENSO, people should not built near the ocean because they will be damaged.

Glacier Retreat: Glacier 15 is located in the Antisana volcano between a height of 4820 meters above sea level The glacier retreated 4.56 meters each year between the years 1956 to 1996 The decrease of the glacier’s mass is related to ENSO In 48 years, 22% of glacier 15 has been lost If this continuous there will be no more glaciers which means there is not a water supply for living things

Our Lab Research Question: Explanation: Steps: Does ENSO affect the retreat of the Ecuadorian glaciers? Explanation: For this lab we collected data from temperatures of Galapagos islands and later we created a excel worksheet to present the change in temperature during seven months. Steps: Central 2 We took temperatures for 7 consecutive months from central 2 region islands. Later we found the average of those temperatures. Using the average temps. we created a table and a scatter plot At last we calculated the slope and y-intercept of this linear relationship Southern We used the data for past 5 years of the Southern region Then, we created a scatter plot and found the equation of that data of 5 years We got data for Antisana glacier 15 retreat (2000- 2004) Finally, we made a scatter plot and equation Our Lab

Average Sea Surface Temperatures Of the Galapagos Central 2 2014-2015 Table and Graph Average Sea Surface Temperatures Of the Galapagos Central 2 2014-2015 Month # of Month Avg. temp September 1 21.94 October 2 21.19 November 3 22.57 December 4 23.39 January 5 23.66 February 6 24.46 March 7 26.87

Calculations To find the equation of the linear relationship for the average sea surface temperatures, we had to first find the slope. Then we plugged in the equation the slope to find the y-intercept. This let us find the proper equation.

Southern Galapagos Temps Average Sea Surface Temperature (SST) for the Galápagos Southern Islands 2010-2014 Year # of Year Avg Temp (C°) 2010 21,5 2011 1 22,76 2012 2 23,17 2013 3 22,71 2014 4 23,89

Table and Graph Glacier 15 Antisana's Glacier 15 Retreat Year # of Year Area (m2) 2000 365464 2001 1 346139 2002 2 322614 2003 3 308616 2004 4 300207

Conclusion: The slope of the linear relationship is positive because it increases ENSO is affecting the sea surface and it also affects the retreat of the country’s glaciers The glaciers are alarmingly decreasing their mass and retreating, this could cause several problems to animals, plants, and humans We think more people should be aware of the retreat of the glaciers and help prevent it by not polluting the environment

Climate change and tropical Andean glaciers: Past, present and future Climate change and tropical Andean glaciers: Past, present and future. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825208000408 Module 3, Investigation 1: Briefing 1 What are the effects of ENSO? (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://cmmoodleuio.cloudapp.net/pluginfile.php?file=/17904/mod_assign/intro/climatechange-9-12.pdf Sources: