Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hydrologic-energy balance constraints on the Holocene lake-level history of lake Titicaca, South America

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A basin-scale hydrologic-energy balance model that integrates modern climatological, hydrological, and hypsographic observations was developed for the modern Lake Titicaca watershed (northern Altiplano, South America) and operated under variable conditions to understand controls on post-glacial changes in lake level. The model simulates changes in five environmental variables (air temperature, cloud fraction, precipitation, relative humidity, and land surface albedo). Relatively small changes in three meteorological variables (mean annual precipitation, temperature, and/or cloud fraction) explain the large mid-Holocene lake-level decrease (∼85 m) inferred from seismic reflection profiling and supported by sediment-based paleoproxies from lake sediments. Climatic controls that shape the present-day Altiplano and the sediment-based record of Holocene lake-level change are combined to interpret model-derived lake-level simulations in terms of changes in the mean state of ENSO and its impact on moisture transport to the Altiplano.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3a–c
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6a–d
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbott MB, Binford MW, Brenner M, Kelts KR (1997a) A 3500 14 C yr high-resolution record of water-level changes in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru. Quat Res 47: 169–180

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baker PA, Seltzer GO, Fritz S C, Dunbar RB, Grove M J, Tapia PM, Cross SL, Rowe HD, Broda JP (2001a) The history of South American tropical precipitation for the past 25,000 Years. Science 291: 640–643

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baker PA, Rigsby CA, Seltzer GO, Fritz SC, Lowenstein TK, Bacher NP, Veliz C (2001b) Tropical climate changes at millennial and orbital timescales on the Bolivian Altiplano. Nature 409: 698–701

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blodgett TA, Lenters JD, Isacks BL (1997) Constrains on the origin of paleolake expansions in the central Andes. Earth Interact 1: 1–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley RS, Vuille M, Hardy D, Thompson LG (2003) Low latitude ice cores record Pacific sea surface temperatures. Geophys Res Lett 30: 1174–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budyko MI (1974) Climate and life. Academic Press, New York, USA, pp 508

  • BoulangéB, Aquize Jaen E (1981) Morphologie, hydrographie et climatologie du Lac Titicaca et de son bassin versant. Rev Hydrobiol Trop 14(4): 269–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert WH (1982) Evaporation into the atmosphere: theory, history and applications. D. Reidel Dordrecht,Netherlands, pp 299

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmouze J-P, Aquize Jaen E (1981) La regulation hydrique du lac Titicaca et l’hydrologie de ses tributaries. Rev Hydrobiol Trop 14(4): 311–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmouze J-P, Aquize E, Arze C, Quintanilla J (1983) Le bilanénergetique du lac Titicaca. Rev Hydrobiol Trop 16(2): 135–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross SL, Baker PA, Seltzer GO, Fritz SC, Dunbar RB (1999) A new estimate of the Holocene lowstand level of Lake Titicaca, and implications for tropical paleohydrology. Holocene 10: 21–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cross SL, Baker PA, Seltzer GO, Fritz SC, Dunbar RB (2001) Late Quaternary climate and hydrology of tropical South America inferred from an isotopic and chemical model of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia and Peru. Quatern. Res. 56: 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Freitas HA, Pessenda LCR, Aravena R, Gouveia SEM, Ribeiro AS, Boulet R (2001) Late quaternary vegetation dynamics in the southern Amazon basin inferred from carbon isotopes in soil organic matter. Quat. Res 55: 39–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RG (1999) Multiscale analysis of the summertime precipitation over the Central Andes. Mon Wea. the rev 127: 901–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RG (2000) Intraseasonal variability of moisture and rainfall over the South American Altiplano. Mon Weather Rev 128: 3337–3346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RG, Aceituno P (2001) Interannual rainfall variability over the South American Altiplano. J Clim 14: 2779–2789

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RG, Vuille M, Clement A (2003) The climate of the Altiplano: observed current conditions and mechanisms of past changes Palaeogeogl Palaeoclim Palaeoecol 194: 5–22

  • Hardy DR, Vuille M, Braun C, Keimig F, Bradley RS (1998) Annual and daily meteorological cycles at high altitude on a tropical mountain. Bull Amer Meterel Soc 79: 1899–1913

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S, Kutzbach JE (1985) Late Pleistocene climate and water budget of the South American Altiplano. Quat Res 24: 249–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler A (1974) Atmospheric circulation anomalies and level fluctuations of Lake Titicaca (in Germ. an). Bonner Meteorl. Abh 17:361–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler A (1984) The paleohydrology of the late Pleistocene Lake Tauca on the Bolivian Altiplano and recent climatic fluctuations. In: Vogel JC (ed) Late Cainozoic Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere. AA Balkema. Rotterdam, Netherlands pp 115–122

  • Kirkish MH, Taylor MJ (1984) Micrometeorological measurements at Lake Titicaca (Peru-Bolivia). Verh Internat Verien Limnol 22: 1232–1236

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau K-M, Zhao J (2003) Anomalies of the South American Summer Monsoon associated with the 1997–99 El-Niño-Southern Oscillation. Int J Clim 23: 529–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenters JD, Cook KH (1997) On the origin of the Bolivian High and related circulation features of the South American climate. J Atmos Sci 54: 656–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenters JD, Cook KH (1999) Summertime precipitation variability over South America: role of the large-scale circulation. Mon Weather the rev 127: 409–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA (1992) Interannual variability of surface climate in the Amazon basin. Int. J Climatol 12: 853–863

    Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA, Hastenrath S (1993) Case studies of extreme climatic events in the Amazon basin. J Clim 6: 617–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin L, Fournier M, Mourguiart P, Sifeddine A, Turcq B (1993) Southern Oscillation signal in South American paleoclimatic data of the last 7000 years. Quat. Res 39: 338–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paegle JN, Mo KC (2002) Linkages between summer rainfall variability over South America and sea surface temperature anomalies. J Clim 15: 1389–1407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pessenda LCR, Boulet R, Aravena R, Rosolen V, Gouveia SEM, Ribero AS, Lamotte M (2001) Origin and dynamics of soil organic matter and vegetation changes during the Holocene in a forest-savanna transition zone, Brazilian Amazon region. Holocene 11: 250–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philander SGH (1990) El Niño, La Niña, and the Southern Oscillation. Academic Press, NewYork pp 293

  • Pickard GL, Emery WJ (1990) Descriptive physical oceanography (5th edn). Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK

  • Roche MA, Bourges J, Cortes J, Mattos R (1992) Climatology and hydrology of the Lake Titicaca basin. In: Dejaoux C,lltis A (eds) Lake Titicaca: a synthesis of Limnological knowledge pp 576

  • Rodbell DT, Seltzer GO, Anderson DM, Abbott MB, Enfield DB, Newman JH (1999) An ∼15,000-year record of El Niño-driven alluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science 283: 516–520

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe HD, Dunbar RB, Mucciarone DA, Seltzer GO, Baker PA, Fritz SC (2002) Insolation, moisture balance, and climate change on the South American Altiplano since the last glacial maximum. Clim Change 52: 175–199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe HD, Guilderson TP, Dunbar RB, Southon JR, Seltzer GO, Mucciarone DA (2003) Timing of late quaternary lake level change: Lake Titicaca, South America. Global Planet Change 38: 273–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandweiss DH, Richardson JB, Reitz EJ, Rollins HB, Maasch KA (1996) Geoarchaeological evidence from Peru for a 5000 years BP onset of El Niño. Science 273: 1531–1533

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seltzer GO, Baker PA, Cross S, Dunbar RB, Fritz S (1998) High-resolution seismic reflection profiles from Lake Titicaca, Peru-Bolivia: evidence for Holocene aridity in the tropical Andes. Geology 26: 167–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Servant M, Fontes J-C (1978) Les lacs quaternaries des hauts plateaux des andes boliviennes premiéres interprétations paléoclimatiques. Cah ORSTOM ser Geol 10(1): 9–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Sylvestre F, Servant M, Servant-Vildary S, Causse C, Fournier M, Ybert J-P (1999) Lake-level chronology on the southern Bolivian Altiplano (18°S–23°S) during late-glacial time and the early Holocene. Quat Res 51: 54–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson LG, Mosley-Thompson E, Davis ME, Lin P-N, Henderson KA, Cole-Dai J, Bolzan JF, Liu K-b (1995) Late glacial stage and Holocene tropical ice core records from Huascaran, Peru. Science 269: 46–50

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vuille M, Hardy DR, Braun C, Keimig F, Bradley RS (1998) Atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with 1996/1997 summer precipitation events on Sajama ice cap, Bolivia. J Geophys Res 103(D10): 11,191–11,204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuille M (1999) Atmospheric circulation over the Bolivian Altiplano during dry and wet periods and extreme phases of the Southern Oscillation. Int J Clim 19: 1579–1600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuille M, Bradley RS, Keimig F (2000) Interannual climate variability in the central Andes and their relation to tropical Pacific and Atlantic forcing. J Geophys Res 105: 12.447–12,460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wirrmann D (1992) Morphology and bathymetry. In: DejourC, Iltis A (Eds)Lake Titicaca: a synthesis of Limnological knowledge pp 576

  • Wirrmann D, Mourguiart P (1995) Late Quaternary spatio-temporal limnological variations in the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru. Quat Res 43: 344–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao J, Lau K-M (1998) Does a monsoon climate exist over South America? J Clim 11: 1020–1040

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance and insight of Mathias Vuille (University of Massachusetts), Keith Loague (Stanford University), Rene Garreaud (Universidad de Chile), an anonymous reviewer, and Harry B. Rowe, Jr. (Closure Systems International). Annotated copies of the evaporation and STELLA models are obtainable from the primary author.

Author information

Author notes

  1. H. D. Rowe

    Present address: Geological Sciences, University of Kentucky, 101 Slone Research Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0053, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Bldg. 320, Rm. 118, Stanford, CA 94305-2115

    H. D. Rowe & R. B. Dunbar

Authors
  1. H. D. Rowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. B. Dunbar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. D. Rowe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rowe, H.D., Dunbar, R.B. Hydrologic-energy balance constraints on the Holocene lake-level history of lake Titicaca, South America. Climate Dynamics 23, 439–454 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0451-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0451-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation