Spatial Assessment of Glacier Retreat of Nevado Pastoruri and Its Impact on Tourism Dynamics (1987–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37711/repiama.2025.2.2.6Keywords:
climate change, tourism, remote sensing, glacier, degradationAbstract
The glacier retreat of Nevado Pastoruri constitutes one of the most critical pieces of evidence of climate change in the Cordillera Blanca, generating significant environmental and socioeconomic alterations. The study was to spatially evaluate the glacier retreat of Nevado Pastoruri and its impact on tourism dynamics between 1987 and 2025. Where the multitemporal analysis of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 OLI, and Landsat 9 OLI/TIRS satellite images was integrated, processed through the NDSI index (Normalized Difference Snow Index) and GIS tools, which allowed the delimitation and quantification of the variation of glacier surface area. Likewise, a linear projection model was applied to estimate the trend toward 2035, and tourism records reported by MINCETUR, SERNANP, and INAIGEM were analyzed. The results demonstrated a loss of 48% of the glacier area, decreasing from 21.09 km² in 1987 to 10.97 km² in 2025, with an average annual rate of 0.27 km². The projection to the year 2035, which estimates a surface reduced to 8.27 km², confirms the continuity of the glacier degradation process of Pastoruri, whose retreat not only evidences high environmental vulnerability, but also generates direct impacts on local tourism, reflected in the decrease in visitors, the transformation of the natural landscape, and the deterioration of the main economic activity of the area. Taken together, these results allow concluding that the glacier loss of Pastoruri constitutes a critical process with negative repercussions both on mountain ecosystems and on tourism activities that depend on this glacier attraction.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Niler Rosario Chahua Garcia, Hatzia Angeline Landa Santiago, Frank James Tadeo Simón, Emmanuel Antonio Gómez Castro (Autor/a)
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