The variations in glaciers are the important indicators of regional climate change. The glaciers play an important role in the regulation of water balance. In the conditions of global warming they recede and degrade that is expressed in the related changes in glacier runoff. The research of glacier melting is important for studies of sea/ocean level changes. The Caucasian glacial dimensions (area, volume, length) have been changed over the centuries.The scientific study of glaciers in the Caucasus was started during the first half of 18th century. In the last century the terrestrial observations on glaciers were carried out. Due to the difficulties of organization and conducting of field works the received observational data sets consists from different series of various temporal duration characteristics of glaciers. The data received contain uncertainties. From another hand carrying out of such field works are expensive.With the launch of the Earth's satellites it was determined that satellite remote sensing is the best technology allowing to receive data with needed regularity in terms of both time and space resolution. Some uncertainties remain in the data as the observational tool is too far away from the Earth's surface. So, the necessity for the strong quality assessment/quality control (QA/QC) remains. A lot of studies showed that the best method for investigation of glaciers is application of satellite remote sensing combined with terrestrial observations and expert knowledge of separate glaciers. Ó 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The article reviews the changes of the glacier basins characteristics of Georgia glaciers due to the current climate change. Calculations show significant decrease of the area and number of the glaciers in Georgia over the last 50 years. This reduction is more intensive in eastern Georgia in comparison with the western part of the country. At the same time, some large glaciers complete melting dates are determined according to one of the basic scenarios of current climate change, namely the business as usual. Based on the calculations it is concluded that viewed large glaciers complete melting is not expected within this century even in this worst conditions scenario.

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Since the beginning of the 21st century, studies of glaciers in Georgia have become more important, because the degradation of glaciers causes an increase in the intensity and frequency of natural disasters of a glacial and hydrological nature, an increase in water levels in the Black Sea, and a changes in river water regime. Studying the current state of the ice sheet in Georgia is an important national economic task, and to obtainobtaining a scientifically sound answer on modern conditions of the glaciers, due to the impact of current climate change is an urgent task. To solve this task, high-resolution satellite remote sensing (SRS) is used. The r. Rioni basin (West Georgia) is one of the most important glacier basins in Georgia, where the powerful glaciers are spread and their change is of great interest. In this work there are presented the results of the study of r. Rioni glasiers glaciers degradation due to the influence of current climate change including the expected time of their full melting.