New data on current changes in the mountain glaciers of Russia

Kotlyakov, V. M.; Khromova, T.; Nosenko, G.; Popova, V. V.; Chernova, L. P.; Murav’ev, A. Ya.

doi:10.1134/s1028334x15100207

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The detailed study on deglaciation by Shahgedanova et al (2014) considers only the beginning of the 21st century and only 498 glaciers of the Main Caucasus Range. Refined estimates of the dynamics of the Caucasus glaciers in 2001-2010 were obtained in (Kotlyakov et al, 2015), it is shown that the melting rate reaches 0.5%. The most comprehensive contemporary glacier database for the whole region is presented in the work by Tielidze and Wheate (2018) for three reference years: 1960, 1986, and 2014.…”

Section: Glaciological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Large‐scale climatic factors driving glacier recession in the Greater Caucasus, 20th–21st century

Toropov

Aleshina

Grachev

2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Over the past 30 years, there has been a catastrophic reduction of the glacierized area in the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, with the values reaching 0.69% per year. Physical mechanisms accountable for such intense melting are investigated in this study. The main trends in the temperature‐moisture regime of the Caucasus and adjacent areas for the period 1982–2015 were recovered based on instrumental data and the ERA‐Interim data reanalysis. It is demonstrated that there is statistically significant warming for the summer season in the region as a whole. No statistically significant changes were detected in the precipitation regime, despite the increase in the integral moisture content of the atmosphere and in the potential convective energy. The integral moisture content growth is compensated by the increase in the moisture divergence. This happens due to the intensification of large‐scale descending atmospheric motions. As a result, the seasonal and annual precipitation amounts do not change significantly. Such effects are possibly the consequence of the global process of “widening of the tropics.” This process is most clearly manifested in the expansion of the Hadley cell and the northward shift of its descending branch. This process can lead to an increased frequency of anticyclones over the southern regions of Europe during the warm part of the year. This, in turn, leads to a negative cloud cover trend as well as an increase in the closely related radiation balance. Apparently, this process is the cause of the intensive reduction of the glaciation area in the North Caucasus.

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Section: Glaciological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Large‐scale climatic factors driving glacier recession in the Greater Caucasus, 20th–21st century

Toropov

Aleshina

Grachev

2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…The Caucasus is one of the most studied glacierized regions in the world. The first information about glaciers date back to the 18th and 19th centuries (Kotlyakov et al, 2015;Tielidze, 2016). The first inventory of the Caucasus glaciers was published at the beginning of the 20th century (Podozerskiy, 1911).…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong acceleration of glacier area loss in the Greater Caucasus over the past two decades

Tielidze

Nosenko

Khromova

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. An updated glacier inventory is important for understanding glacier behavior given the accelerating glacier retreat observed around the world. Here, we present data from new glacier inventory at two time periods (2000, 2020) covering the entire Greater Caucasus (Georgia, Russia, and Azerbaijan). Satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel, SPOT) was used to conduct a remote-sensing survey of glacier change. The 30 m resolution Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM; 17 November 2011) was used to determine aspect, slope and elevations, for all glaciers. Glacier margins were mapped manually and reveal that in 2000 the mountain range contained 2186 glaciers with a total glacier surface area of 1381.5 ± 58.2 km2. By 2020, glacier surface area had decreased to 1060.9 ± 33.6 km2. Of the 2223 glaciers, fourteen have an area > 10 km2 resulting the 221.9 km2 or 20.9 % of total glacier area in 2020. The Bezingi Glacier with an area of 39.4 ± 0.9 km2 was the largest glacier mapped in 2020 database. Our result represents a 23.2 ± 3.8 % (320.6 ± 45.9 km2) or −1.16 % yr−1 reduction in total glacier surface area over the last twenty years in the Greater Caucasus. Glaciers between 1.0 km2 and 5.0 km2 account for 478.1 km2 or 34.6 % in total area in 2000, while it account for 354.0 km2 or 33.4 % in total area in 2020. The rates of area shrinkage and mean elevation vary between the northern and southern and between the western, central, and eastern Greater Caucasus. Area shrinkage is significantly stronger in the eastern Greater Caucasus (−1.82 % yr−1), where most glaciers are very small. The observed increased summer temperatures and decreased winter precipitation along with increased Saharan dust deposition might be responsible for the predominantly negative mass balances of two glaciers with long-term measurements. Both glacier inventories are available from the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) database and can be used for future studies.

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“…Studies focused on glacier mapping began when Podozerskiy (1911) published the first inventory of the Greater Caucasus glaciers, based on large-scale military topographical maps (1 : 42 000) from 1881 to 1910, identifying 1329 glaciers, with a total area of 1967.4 km 2 (Kotlyakov et al, 2015). Detailed analysis of these early data showed some defects in the depicted shape of the glaciers and in particular those in inaccessible valley glaciers (Tielidze, 2016).…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%