Лëд и снег (Mar 2015)
Studies of the Belukha glacier plexus in the context of global glacio-climatic monitoring (on the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of the Belukha Mountain)
Abstract
The Belukha Mountain is the highest peak of the Altai. On July 26 (7th August in the new time scale) of 1914 the brothers Boris and Mikhail Tronov discovered the mountain and were the first people to climb it. The Tronov Glacier is named after them. The Belukha glacier plexus is now subject to intensive degradation caused by current climate warming. There are changes in the processes of ice-forming, the temperature regime, and the stratigraphic characteristics. The mountain slope processes have become more active. The glacier length has decreased by 1.5–2.0 km, their area shortened almost by 20%, and the volume – by 10–12%. The snow-coverage of slopes has decreased, and positions of the ice-forming zones have correspondingly changed. Analysis of cores from the borehole drilled by the international expedition of 2003 on the west plateau of the Tronov Glacier has made it possible to better refine the character and seasonality of the glaciers alimentation. It is supposed that 11 thousand years ago no glacier existed here.The glacier plexus of the Belukha Mountain area is a natural reference point to monitor the state of glacierization and to justify predicted glacio-climatic situations. We propose to organize an international project aimed at the monitoring of these glacier areas and then to prepare a joint monograph devoted to its glacio-climatic characteristics. This could be performed in the framework of the Russian-Kazakh international programs with participation of scientists from other countries. Now is the right time to prepare summarizing monographs on glacierization of the main glacier clusters in the Russian mountains, similar to the series of books on representative glacier basins in USSR published in the 1980s. The Belukha glaciers should certainly be included in this series.
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