GlacierMap: mapping glacier change in the Peruvian Andes
Lead Research Organisation:
Plymouth University
Department Name: Sch of Geog Earth & Environ Sciences
Abstract
Mountain glaciers and ice caps make up 4% of total glacier ice on the Earth's surface, however these smaller glaciers have been contributing more to sea level rise in recent years than the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined, and are an important source of freshwater. In total, glaciers, ice caps, and the ice sheets contain around 70% of global freshwater, with glaciers feeding many of the world's great rivers. Hundreds of millions of people rely on glaciers as a freshwater source for at least part of the year, and they are particularly important in mountain glacier regions such as the Himalaya and the Andes where meltwater contributes to drinking water, food production, and power generation. In the Rio Santa catchment of Peru, glacial meltwater from the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes provides 10-20% of annual river discharge, but this can exceed 40% during the dry season and reach 90% during years affected by drought. This is not only an issue for drinking water and irrigation, but also for energy production, as around half of Peru's electricity is generated via hydropower. The glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca comprise about 25% of all the tropical mountain glaciers on Earth, glacier cover in this region has decreased by around 35% in the last 40 years.
Water is arguably the most exploited of natural resources, and around 70% of freshwater extraction is ultimately used for agriculture. Food production further compounds challenges around water use through land degradation caused by unsustainable land use practises, and around 30% of global energy consumption can also be attributed to food production and supply. There are increased pressures on food, water, and energy due to climate change, a growing population, changing land use, and economic growth. As glaciers in mountain areas retreat in response to a warming climate the production of meltwater increases until the glaciers shrink and reach a critical size, which is followed by an overall reduction in downstream freshwater discharge. This is termed "peak water" and has likely already been reached for many glaciers in the Peruvian Andes. Understanding the changes in glacier cover, impact on freshwater availability, and their relationship with regional climate change is crucial so that communities can find ways to become more resilient to changing availability of resources.
To improve public understanding of these challenges and to create a new database of glacier area change in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, we plan to develop a free, online tool called GlacierMap which will allow participants to contribute to improved knowledge of glacier change in this region. The citizen science project will involve volunteers mapping the outlines of individual glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca for a number of different years. The mapping will be conducted by visual interpretation of satellite images, and subsequent comparison of mapped glacier extents over different time periods will allow for analysis of glacier area change in this region. The data created will be freely available for both research and educational use, and the data will feed into a larger research project (SIGMA: Peru) which looks to evaluate the past, current, and future contribution of glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca to downstream water resources, and help to develop solutions for adaptation to decreased freshwater availability in downstream communities. GlacierMap will initially be run as a pilot study with UK secondary school geography pupils, to assess the value of the tool for data collection and as a learning activity to improve understanding of glacier change and water resources. If successful we will also be using GlacierMap within the SIGMA project to engage with local school pupils and other members of the community within the Rio Santa catchment, and provide an opportunity for UK and Peruvian pupils to connect through an online discussion platform to share their understanding of global challenges.
Water is arguably the most exploited of natural resources, and around 70% of freshwater extraction is ultimately used for agriculture. Food production further compounds challenges around water use through land degradation caused by unsustainable land use practises, and around 30% of global energy consumption can also be attributed to food production and supply. There are increased pressures on food, water, and energy due to climate change, a growing population, changing land use, and economic growth. As glaciers in mountain areas retreat in response to a warming climate the production of meltwater increases until the glaciers shrink and reach a critical size, which is followed by an overall reduction in downstream freshwater discharge. This is termed "peak water" and has likely already been reached for many glaciers in the Peruvian Andes. Understanding the changes in glacier cover, impact on freshwater availability, and their relationship with regional climate change is crucial so that communities can find ways to become more resilient to changing availability of resources.
To improve public understanding of these challenges and to create a new database of glacier area change in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, we plan to develop a free, online tool called GlacierMap which will allow participants to contribute to improved knowledge of glacier change in this region. The citizen science project will involve volunteers mapping the outlines of individual glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca for a number of different years. The mapping will be conducted by visual interpretation of satellite images, and subsequent comparison of mapped glacier extents over different time periods will allow for analysis of glacier area change in this region. The data created will be freely available for both research and educational use, and the data will feed into a larger research project (SIGMA: Peru) which looks to evaluate the past, current, and future contribution of glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca to downstream water resources, and help to develop solutions for adaptation to decreased freshwater availability in downstream communities. GlacierMap will initially be run as a pilot study with UK secondary school geography pupils, to assess the value of the tool for data collection and as a learning activity to improve understanding of glacier change and water resources. If successful we will also be using GlacierMap within the SIGMA project to engage with local school pupils and other members of the community within the Rio Santa catchment, and provide an opportunity for UK and Peruvian pupils to connect through an online discussion platform to share their understanding of global challenges.
Technical Summary
The Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes is the world's most glaciated tropical mountain range, however over the last four decades glacier extent has reduced by 25%, with significant implications for freshwater resources. Glaciers are essential to water supplies in the Cordillera Blanca for domestic water consumption, agriculture, industry, and hydroelectricity production within the increasingly populated region. For mountain communities in the Cordillera Blanca, glacial melt provides up to two thirds of dry season water supply and up to 91% during drought years. The impact of glacier retreat on downstream stakeholders is thus extremely important for water, food, and energy security, yet these issues remain poorly communicated to the public. To address this we have designed a citizen science project, GlacierMap, which will enable participants to map glacier outlines in the Cordillera Blanca from satellite imagery across multiple time periods using a free web-based mapping tool. GlacierMap will contribute to the creation of a new database for glacier area change, and help to increase public awareness of mountain glacier retreat, changes to meltwater production, and implications for water, food, and energy security. Secondary school geography participants in the UK have been identified as the primary target audience for this pilot project to maximise the added value of the activity: upskilling of GIS, raising the profile of glaciology in education, and increasing awareness of the downstream impacts of glacier retreat. The results of this pilot project will feed directly into the NERC-funded SIGMA project by helping to inform patterns of glacier change in the region, which together with hydrological data will be used to assess future risk to water supply. Following analysis of the success of the tool for both data generation and learning, GlacierMap will also be used within the SIGMA project for educational and stakeholder engagement activities in Peru.
Planned Impact
Our impact strategy for this pilot study encompasses four key stakeholder groups within the UK: (1) educators; (2) secondary school pupils; (3) the general public; (4) scientists both conducting and communicating research around the impacts of climatic and environmental change. For all four UK key stakeholder groups we expect that the GlacierMap citizen science project will increase awareness and understanding of the impacts of glacier retreat on downstream water, food, and energy security. These impacts will be evaluated through the implementation of pre- and post-mapping exercise surveys. We anticipate that once established, this pilot study will be extended to participants in Peru, including teachers and their students, and key stakeholder groups within the local population of the Rio Santa catchment.
(1) Educators: The primary legacy of the project will be the creation of a user-friendly educational resource which will remain freely available as a teaching resource via ArcGIS Online. This can be used to contribute to GIS skill development at secondary school level, offering support to teachers who look for resources to help bring GIS and contemporary glaciology into the classroom. The project will also generate resources for further teaching activities following evaluation of the pilot study.
(2) Pupils: GlacierMap will help to bring aspects of the national curriculum to life for secondary school participants through the interactive nature of the mapping exercise, contributing to an improved understanding of the impacts of glacier retreat on downstream communities. The online platform will also include an anonymous forum for exchange between UK and Peruvian participants, allowing for discussion around water security, glacier retreat and the impacts of environmental change between nations with different environmental challenges. Ultimately, we hope our project will help to nurture a future generation become more passionate about research, innovation and environmental issues.
(3) General public: The project will act as a vehicle for scientific outreach by diversifying the methods by which the public can interact with environmental research. Participants will experience ownership of the research as they contribute to building this citizen science glacier inventory. The outreach event, related to World Water Day, will also help to raise public awareness of threats to water security in glacier-fed catchments.
(4) Scientists: The project will generate a citizen science glacier inventory which will allow us as scientists to draw upon this "crowd sourced" data to explore temporal and spatial patterns of glacier change in the Cordillera Blanca, and assess the value of citizen science for environmental monitoring of this nature. If the mapping is deemed successful, it will act as a proof-of-concept for citizen science glacier inventories in other regions. The study will also produce qualitative data to help contribute towards our understanding of the impact of participation in citizen science on awareness and perception of global environmental issues.
Following completion of the pilot study, our hope is that GlacierMap can be used as a tool to contribute positively to our interactions with local stakeholders and schools in the Cordillera Blanca during work on our SIGMA project.
(1) Educators: The primary legacy of the project will be the creation of a user-friendly educational resource which will remain freely available as a teaching resource via ArcGIS Online. This can be used to contribute to GIS skill development at secondary school level, offering support to teachers who look for resources to help bring GIS and contemporary glaciology into the classroom. The project will also generate resources for further teaching activities following evaluation of the pilot study.
(2) Pupils: GlacierMap will help to bring aspects of the national curriculum to life for secondary school participants through the interactive nature of the mapping exercise, contributing to an improved understanding of the impacts of glacier retreat on downstream communities. The online platform will also include an anonymous forum for exchange between UK and Peruvian participants, allowing for discussion around water security, glacier retreat and the impacts of environmental change between nations with different environmental challenges. Ultimately, we hope our project will help to nurture a future generation become more passionate about research, innovation and environmental issues.
(3) General public: The project will act as a vehicle for scientific outreach by diversifying the methods by which the public can interact with environmental research. Participants will experience ownership of the research as they contribute to building this citizen science glacier inventory. The outreach event, related to World Water Day, will also help to raise public awareness of threats to water security in glacier-fed catchments.
(4) Scientists: The project will generate a citizen science glacier inventory which will allow us as scientists to draw upon this "crowd sourced" data to explore temporal and spatial patterns of glacier change in the Cordillera Blanca, and assess the value of citizen science for environmental monitoring of this nature. If the mapping is deemed successful, it will act as a proof-of-concept for citizen science glacier inventories in other regions. The study will also produce qualitative data to help contribute towards our understanding of the impact of participation in citizen science on awareness and perception of global environmental issues.
Following completion of the pilot study, our hope is that GlacierMap can be used as a tool to contribute positively to our interactions with local stakeholders and schools in the Cordillera Blanca during work on our SIGMA project.
Organisations
Publications
Clason C
(2021)
GlacierMap: a virtual opportunity to explore the Andes' vanishing glaciers
in Geography
| Title | Impacts of Peruvian glacier retreat |
| Description | This artwork is a visualisation of the range of impacts directly arising from glacier retreat in the Peruvian Andes. It was created by Carey Marks to help communicate these issues to a wide, non-expert audience, as part of our public dissemination for the GlacierMap and SIGMA projects. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | This artwork was used an an integral part of the GlacierMap citizen science project as a vehicle to contribute to improved understanding of Andean glacier retreat for citizen scientist participants. The artwork has also been used as part of outreach events and talks to school students and early career scientists. |
| URL | https://sigmaperu.wordpress.com/impacts-of-glacier-retreat/ |
| Description | Our citizen science project was designed to raise awareness of the issue of water resource impacts of glacier change, particularly amongst school pupils, to contribute to increased public backing for tackling, adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Our overall aim was to generate a database for glacier change in the Cordillera Blanca while increasing public awareness of mountain glacier retreat, changes to freshwater contribution, and implications for water, food, and energy security. This was to be facilitated by the creation of a freely-available glacier mapping tool - GlacierMap. The primary legacies of the project will be the creation of this educational tool which will remain available as a free teaching resource via ArcGIS Online, and the creation of an open-source database for glacier monitoring in the Cordillera Blanca which can be updated further as new satellite imagery becomes available. GlacierMap enables the public to map glacier outlines in the Peruvian Andes across multiple time periods. The act of mapping allows participants to visually engage with glacier change while promoting increased understanding through experiential learning. GlacierMap targets users in schools so that it can be used as a tool for secondary education. Glaciation is included as an option in the national curriculum, however it is not taught at GCSE in many schools due to the alternative to study coasts. Raising awareness of glacier retreat and its impacts amongst school pupils in the UK, and creating a useful tool for teachers to help illustrate these global issues, was a key priority of this pilot study. We developed a citizen science tool which allows anyone (over the age of 16) to participate, with no prior knowledge of glaciers or mapping necessary. Of the 600 participants who have contributed so far, 286 participants fully completed GlacierMap (including the post-mapping survey) allowing us to gather comparative data and feedback comments. 32% of participants were from our target audience of school students (24%) and teachers (8%). We had a fairly even gender spread, with 51% identifying as female, and 46% as male. We recruited a surprisingly large number of university students (40%), and we also had much larger geographical reach than we anticipated, with participants from at least 25 different countries across the world. One major advantage of the GlacierMap citizen science tool is that it can be used as a teaching resource, inside or outside of the classroom. As an educational tool for teachers, GlacierMap helps to illustrate issues around glacier retreat and food, water and energy security, upskill mapping skills and experience for pupils, and help to nurture a future generation who are passionate about research and innovation. Analysis of feedback received showed that GlacierMap achieved these aims, with many positive comments about the use and enjoyment of participating in GlacierMap, as well as the information and skills learned through it. The most common positive feedback theme was about the mapping exercise - participants mentioned the interactive mapping aspect of GlacierMap, that they learned something from the mapping exercise, or that they found the visual comparison of their mapping to be helpful (32% of all feedback participants). Other positive feedback included that participants really enjoyed GlacierMap or found it interesting or fun (23% of all feedback participants). Participants also found GlacierMap to be informative/contain good information, good visuals and/or they learnt something (19% of all feedback participants). A small selection of quotes from our feedback are included below: "I really liked this. I am a High School teacher and plan to do this with my Senior Geography class later in the month, so wanted to have a go first to see how it worked. Really looking forward to it - great for their Glaciated Landscapes understanding as well as consequences of climate change & greater understanding of hydrological cycle (and causes of regional inequality too). Thank you!" (Teacher) "I liked the fact you could practice drawing out the shapes multiple times. I learnt that the water from the glaciers is used for many more reasons than I first thought. I found the fact that anyone can contribute the most interesting, as it allows people to lend a hand, even in the smallest way." (Student) "I really liked how we could see our two maps afterwards - it was a striking visual that helped me to appreciate the extent of glacial retreat. The diagram explaining the effects of this retreat was also very clear and easy to understand. I felt like I collected the data myself - which was really fun and exciting!" (Student) "Actually mapping the glacier yourself made climate change easier to understand and see over the years." (Student) "I really liked the question that you asked before and after with how the loss of glaciers affected the locals as I did not realise the first time that it related to power and electrical energy." (Student) "I liked how I could actually contribute to research myself and see first hand from mapping the images that the glaciers are retreating. I also liked the diagram at the end with information as I find it interesting to find out more about the impacts of glacial retreat." (Student) "Really good idea to map like this - would like to use it as an activity in a lesson too!" (Teacher) "Simple mapping task - raising awareness of impacts of climate change. I liked it." (Teacher) Generation of a citizen science glacier inventory for 30 glaciers in our study region in the Peruvian Andes allowed us to explore the potential of citizen science for glacier mapping and monitoring. The glacier outlines gathered through GlacierMap have allowed us to see how valuable citizen science mapping can be, as we have found that the accuracy of "experts" can be just as varied as citizen scientists, while also demonstrating that it can be challenging for citizen scientists to contribute to mapping of features and landscapes they are less familiar with (e.g. glacial landscapes rather than local countryside or urban settings). Through the GlacierMap project we have learned that training citizen scientists before they undertake data creation is a crucial aspect of a citizen science mapping project. This training aspect was deliberately minimal in the GlacierMap pilot study as it would have potentially impacted the prior understanding/knowledge that we wanted to ascertain through participant surveys, however we will be improving the training component in a future iteration of GlacierMap. We also plan to translate GlacierMap into Spanish as we have had interest from Peruvian teachers too. |
| Exploitation Route | GlacierMap will remain online for as long as we have some funding available to pay for web-hosting. We will also be developing a version for a Spanish-speaking audience, targeting education and outreach in Peru. The concept, current set-up, and lessons learnt from GlacierMap v1 will be applied when developing this new version (as part of the NERC-funded SIGMA project) Beyond GlacierMap itself, we have learned a number of lessons about citizen science and educational tool development, including: 1.To ensure that the project generates the quality of data you hope to achieve, it is crucial to provide sufficient training, information, and clarity to participants to guide them in making valuable contributions. 2.It is important to think about when it is most appropriate to roll-out a citizen science project. For example, for projects aimed primarily at schools, roll-out should be at an opportune time within the school year (e.g. not during the summer holidays, or in the run-up to exams), however the period of funding/global pandemics may be an obstacle to this! 3.To conduct a pilot testing period to gather feedback from a wider group beyond the research team, including the target audience demographic if possible. Ideally, the citizen science tool should be co-designed with teachers/the target group, however in reality, this can be hard to achieve. 4.To ensure a sufficient period of time for data collection and analysis - the very short nature of this funding has meant that most of the analysis is still being conducted now. The most common suggestion from GlacierMap participants was to improve the mapping exercise by either improving the mapping instructions/usability, giving a model example for mapping a glacier outline, or including tips on glacier mapping (14% of all feedback participants). Another common suggestion was to allow a direct comparison of the participants mapping efforts to either other participants, experts, or the glacier inventory as a whole, allowing participants to see how "well" they did, and to help them learn from their mapping (10% of all feedback participants). Separate to the research itself, we have been able to evaluate the success of the different methods of promotion and engagement for GlacierMap (paid Facebook/Instagram campaign, teaching networks, personal networks, scientific networks, university events). This evaluation will help to inform future proposals with regards to promotion strategy for online engagement/participation. Over half of the participants who completed the feedback indicated that they heard about GlacierMap via a teacher (53%), with word of mouth being the second most common way that participants heard about GlacierMap (12%) and also Twitter (10%). Social media was not as successful at recruiting participants as hoped/expected, with only 2% of participants stating that they heard about GlacierMap through Facebook and only 1% of participants stating that they had heard about it via Instagram. However, this could be due to the time needed to participate in GlacierMap (~20 minutes) and therefore potential participants may have clicked on the link in the social media campaigns but then did not start/complete GlacierMap. Furthermore, the interactive mapping in GlacierMap is most suited to laptops and tablets due to the detailed nature of mapping, so this may have also reduced participation if some people heard about GlacierMap via social media on their smartphone where conducting mapping is not so easy. Also, the informed consent advised that GlacierMap may take around 20 minutes, and this may have also lost participants, especially those from social media looking for a quick distraction. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment |
| Title | GlacierMap - online glacier mapping tool |
| Description | GlacierMap is a free-to-use tool for mapping glacier outlines in the Peruvian Andes. Citizen science contributions add to a database of mapped glaciers in the region, and the website has been designed to include an educational element that provides participants with information about the impacts of glacier change in the region. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | There have been 600 individual contributions to GlacierMap as of 19/02/2021, including use by teachers as a classroom activity. Users have provided feedback on the extent to which engagement with GlacierMap changed their understanding of the impacts of glacier change, and we are currently analysing these responses further. |
| URL | https://peruglaciers.org/ |
| Description | A-level climate change talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Clason delivered a talk to A-level pupils from the Devon region as part of the University of Plymouth's climate change day. The talk was delivered online due to COVID restrictions and focussed on the impact of retreating glaciers on water security, with a focus on the Peruvian Andes. There around 125 participants and Caroline had numerous questions from the audience following the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | EGU 2021 talk on "GlacierMap: a citizen science mapping tool for evaluating glacier change and contributing to climate literacy" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Gave a talk on "GlacierMap: a citizen science mapping tool for evaluating glacier change and contributing to climate literacy" within the Virtual EGU conference in April 2021. This was largely targeted at academic audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU21/EGU21-9531.html |
| Description | Girls into Geoscience 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Clason and Sally Rangecroft delivered a workshop on Peruvian Glaciers and Water Resources as part of the virtual Girls into Geoscience 2020 event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/earth-sciences/girls-into-geoscience |
| Description | Girls into Geoscience 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Girls into Geoscience (GiG) is a event which introduces female A-level students to the Earth sciences and demonstrate the world of careers and university research open to Earth science graduates today. It has become a network, supporting women in geology and those aspiring to be. Due to the virtual nature of GiG2021 it was attended by both local students (Plymouth/Devon) but also students from across the UK and Ireland.The workshop we held was fully interactive, and allowed the participants to explore the study region in Peru, learn about glacial processes, landforms, mountain environments and ecosystems, and glacial retreat. The workshop promoted many discussion points, and we received a lot of interest in the subject area and our research project after. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/girls-into-geoscience |
| Description | IGS British Branch presentation on GlacierMap and Citizen Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Research presentation at the British Branch meeting of the International Glaciological Society. Caroline Clason delivered a poster and short talk on the preliminary results and process of developing GlacierMap. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.igsoc.org/about/britishbranch/meetings/edinburgh2020/ |
| Description | Invited seminar at Edinburgh University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar on "Assessing and communicating glacier-fed water security in mountain regions" for the Hutton Club, University of Edinburgh, March 2023. This seminar discussed research emerging from the SIGMA project, in addition to discussing the importance of using different types of outreach / communication methods, such as GlacierMap, the Nuestro Rio Project, and Glacier Gifts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited seminar at the University of York |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar on "Contribution of glacial meltwater to resource security in mountain regions" at the University of York in January 2023. This seminar discussed research emerging from the SIGMA project, in addition to discussing the importance of using different types of outreach / communication methods, such as GlacierMap, the Nuestro Rio Project, and Glacier Gifts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |