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PISAC (Pollution and its Impact on the South American Cryosphere)

The PISAC initiative was created by a team of multidisciplinary scientists and policy experts in the regions surrounding the Andes, as well as international experts.

Recent scientific evidence indicates that the Andean and Patagonian glacial regions have already shown the impacts of rapid climate change with receding glaciers and snow cover. Andean glaciers and snow fall constitute the most important source of fresh water for countries along the western coast of South America. Thus glacier retreat and changes in snow fall could have potentially large implications for water resources and local agriculture, especially for local indigenous populations living in high altitude communities as well as for large urban centers at relatively lower surrounding altitudes.

The overall goal of the PISAC initiative is to investigate key sources and impacts of black carbon and co-pollutant emissions in the Andean regions, aiming at designing observation sites and research activities to close knowledge gaps and to address mitigation measures for near-term climate protection and air quality improvement.

A White Paper addressing emissions, measurements, monitoring, modeling and policy implications is being developed.  Several field studies related to PISAC are also underway.