The study area of this capstone project is focused on the Cordillera Vilcanota, located in the southern tropical Andes of Peru. The Cordillera Vilcanota is the second largest glaciated mountain range in Peru (Rabatel et al. 2013), yet is one of the lesser focused regions for glacier studies to date (Hanshaw, M. N., & Bookhagen, B., 2014). The study area is roughly 3,236 square kilometers in area and includes the glacierized peaks of Nevado Auzangate and the Quelccaya Ice Cap. The glacierized watershed of the Cordillera Vilcanota supports downstream populations, connecting with the Rio Vilcanota, Rio Urubamba, and contributing to the headwaters of the Amazon River.

The application of remote sensing methods, including band ratios and indices, are useful tools to distinguish glaciers from other terrestrial features in satellite images. The Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) technique is effective at detecting snow cover globally and has a high accuracy over a wide range of viewing conditions (Riggs, G.A., D.K. Hall, and M.O. Román, 2016). For this project, NDSI will be used to delineate the presence of snow/ice, and to create classes of NDSI values associated with glacier cover given the unique signature of the reflectance in the Landsat satellite bands.

To highlight the amount of glacier loss in the Cordillera Vilcanota, use the swipe feature on the interactive map below. This image shows change in glacier area and ice margins over a thirty year period, shown by imagery of glacier area in 1991 on the left and in 2021 on the right.