Measurements of diurnal heat exchange on the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peruvian Andes

Summary

Measurements of the surface heat budget were conducted on an ice cap in the Andes of Southern Peru at 5645 m during an expedition in July 1977. Because of the high surface albedo, net software radiative gain is nearly offset by the longwave loss in the average over the diurnal cycle. The diurnal temperature wave has at the surface an amplitude of about 5°C, and by 50 cm depth this is nearly dampened out. During the day, the shortwave radiative gain is in part used to balance the longwave loss, some heat is stored in the top snow layer and lost by sensible heat transfer to the overlying atmosphere, and the greater part fuels the sublimation. At night, the longwave radiative loss is not completely compensated by heat depletion and downward directed sensible heat transfer. This deficit is made up by the downward transfer of latent heat, resulting in heat release at the surface and deposition. Regarding the mass balance, the nighttime deposition approximately cancels the daytime sublimation. At lower elevations of the ice cap, albedo is much less, allowing larger absorption of solar radiation. As a consequence, more energy is available for ablation. Melting occurs during the day, so that re-freezing and concurrent latent heat release can help to compensate the longwave radiative loss at night.