La temperatura de la superficie del Océano Pacífico afecta la capa de nieve de los Andes y el aporte de agua a las regiones semiáridas del centro de Chile y Argentina

The document examines the relationship between Pacific Ocean temperature patterns and water availability in the semi-arid regions of central Chile and west-central Argentina. It identifies that winter snowpack is the primary water source for these areas and is strongly influenced by ENSO and PDO cycles. Specifically, El Niño events correlate with high snow and flow, while La Niña events generally correlate with dry years. The document also notes that shifts in the PDO in the 1940s and 1970s coincided with significant changes in average river flows, suggesting that multidecadal PDO behavior drives low-frequency hydrological variations in the region.

• Winter snowpack in the Andes is the most critical water resource for the semi-arid regions of central Chile and west-central Argentina, supporting domestic consumption, agriculture, industry, hydroelectric power, and ecosystems.
• There is a direct correlation between Pacific Ocean surface temperatures and Andean hydrology: El Niño events are associated with high snowpack and river flows, while La Niña events typically correspond to extremely dry years, with exceptions in 1968, 1990, and 2004.
• The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) drives low-frequency hydrological variations in the region; specifically, PDO shifts in the mid-1940s and 1976-77 coincided with a 27% decrease (1945) and a 28% increase (1977) in average annual river flows, respectively.
• Low PDO values observed in the late 1990s did not align with regional river flow records, which may be due to an increasing contribution from glacial melt, though more detailed data is required to confirm this.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2012). La temperatura de la superficie del Océano Pacífico afecta la capa de nieve de los Andes y el aporte de agua a las regiones semiáridas del centro de Chile y Argentina. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/06/snapshot10_SP.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. La temperatura de la superficie del Océano Pacífico afecta la capa de nieve de los Andes y el aporte de agua a las regiones semiáridas del centro de Chile y Argentina. 2012. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/06/snapshot10_SP.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=La temperatura de la superficie del Océano Pacífico afecta la capa de nieve de los Andes y el aporte de agua a las regiones semiáridas del centro de Chile y Argentina |date=2012 |url=https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/06/snapshot10_SP.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2012temperatura, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{La temperatura de la superficie del Océano Pacífico afecta la capa de nieve de los Andes y el aporte de agua a las regiones semiáridas del centro de Chile y Argentina}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2012}, url = {https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/06/snapshot10_SP.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }