El clima como peligro a no tan largo plazo

Rapid retreat of glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. There is now ample evidence of a major retreat of most mountain glaciers during the last 100 years in response to widespread increases in temperature. In recent decades, the rate of glacial recession has increased tremendously. Mountain glaciers supply moisture to mountain forests during thedry and warm seasons. With retreating mountain glaciers, the risk of forest fires increases, with a subsequent reduction of forested areas. Smaller glaciers and diminishing forests lead to the drying up of rivers downstream during the dry seasons. Precipitation will more often come as rain during the winterand wash away at once instead of being stored as snow and then melt in the dry summer season.

Sources Peru National Communication to the UNFCCC, 2001; UNEP/GRID-Europe
Link to web-site http://www.vitalgraphics.net/lac.cfm?pageID=30

Quick retreat of the Santa Rosa glacier, Peru. Several mountain glaciers now disappear at a frightening rate as in the Santa Rosa glacier of Peru. A warmer climate often leads to increased precipitation. Much of the increased precipitation comes as rain instead of snow, mostly in the winter and to a lesser extent during the autumn and the spring. The winter rains fall over existing snow, causing increased melting. As the ice and snow cover is reduced, the albedo of the area is reduced as well. Darker surfaces underneath are revealed, and since a dark surface can absorb more heat, the result is a self-reinforcing effect, which causes increased heating and subsequent melting.
Sources Peru National Communication to the UNFCCC 2001
Link to web-site http://www.vitalgraphics.net/lac.cfm?pageID=33

Ice avalanches of the Nevados Huascarán in Peru. Many disasters have been recorded from the glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca. The 1962 and 1970 events originating from Glaciar 511 on the Nevados Huascarán, the highest peak of which is at 6768 m above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, were particularly severe. On 10 January 1962, an ice avalanche took place with an estimated starting volume of 10 million m3; the avalanche travelled down 16 km and destroyed the city of Ranrahirca, where 4000 people died. On 31 May 1970, the most catastrophic rock-ice avalanche known in history was triggered at 3:23 p.m. by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7. The avalanche originated from a partially overhanging cliff at 5400 to 6500 m above sea level, where the fractured granite rock of the peak was covered by a 30 metre thick glacier. The avalanche, which had an estimated volume of 50 to 100 million m3, travelled 16 km to Rio Santa down a vertical drop of 4 km. Along its path, the avalanche overrode a hill in the downstream area and completely destroyed the city of Yungay, claiming about 18 000 lives.
Sources Data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland and based on figure by UNEP’s DEWA/GRID-Europe, Geneva, Switzerland
Link to web-site http://www.unep.org/geo/ice_snow