Climatic Changes in the Mountain Glacier Area of Pamir

Author(s):  
Alexander Finaev
Author(s):  
Claudio Smiraglia ◽  
Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti

Mountain glaciers represent an important hydrological and touristic resource, and their recent evolution provides a dramatic evidence of climate change for the general public. Glacier inventories, quantifying glacier characteristics and evolution, are an important tool to describe and manage high mountain glacier environments and Italy has developed a long tradition in this sector. Our country was the first to provide itself with a glacier inventory, compiled by Comitato Glaciologico Italiano and CNR, showing a glacier surface of 530 km2. A recent project, coordinated by Università Statale di Milano with the support of private bodies and the cooperation of Comitato EvK2CNR and Comitato Glaciologico Italiano, led to the development of the new Italian Glacier Inventory, a national atlas produced from the analysis of color orthophotos at high resolution acquired between 2005 and 2011. The New Italian Glacier Inventory lists 903 glaciers, covering an area of 370 km2. The largest part of glacier area is located in Val d’Aosta (36.15% of the total), followed by Lombardia and South Tyrol. 84% of glaciers (considering the number of glaciers) have an area lower than 0.5 km2 and jointly account for 21% of the total glacier surface. Glaciers larger than 1 Km2 make up 9.4% of the total number, but cover 67.8% of the total glacier area. The comparison between data from the New Italian Glacier Inventory and the CGI-CNR inventory (1959-1962) shows a 30% reduction in glacier area in Italy; considering instead the World Glacier Inventory or WGI, published at the end of the ‘80s, which reported 1381 glaciers and an area of 609 km2, glacier loss sums up to 478 glaciers and an area of 239 km2 (-39%). This shrinkage has led to rapid and significant changes to high mountain landscapes, notably glacier fragmentation, an increase in deglaciated areas, the formation of proglacial lakes and the development of pioneer vegetation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catrin Stadelmann ◽  
Johannes Jakob Fürst ◽  
Thomas Mölg ◽  
Matthias Braun

Abstract. Glaciers on Kilimanjaro are unique indicators for climatic changes in the tropical mid-troposphere of Africa. The history of severe glacier area loss raises concerns about an imminent future disappearance. Yet, the remaining ice volume is not well known. We reconstruct thickness maps for 2000 and 2011 for the Northern Icefield (NIF) and Kersten Glacier (KG) that are informed by ground-truth thickness measurements and multi-temporal satellite information. For 2011, we find mean thickness values of 26.6 and 9.3 m, respectively. The existing consensus estimate for global glacier ice thickness shows unrealistically thick values for KG in areas that are meanwhile ice-free.


2017 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 176-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor D. Rostov ◽  
Elena V. Dmitrieva ◽  
Alexander A. Vorontsov

2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Schütz

Since the present climate in Switzerland includes abundant rainfall, the climatic changes should not present any serious danger of the ground drying out. In fact, higher precipitation levels are predicted. So it would seem that climate is likely to become more luxuriant rather than more dry. These conditions – together with the entry of nutrients with the rainfall – favour the growth of ash and maple but not of oak. Even with an increase in stressful dry summer periods, a consideration of the broad areas of distribution of indigenous species shows they possess a sufficiently great adaptability. Research into the effects of physiological stress on fir trees from different provenances shows in particular that those with local origins are better adapted to the habitat than those from elsewhere. The danger of an increase in storms should be countered by strategies aimed at increased resistance – through mixed plantation regulation and thinning out – rather than avoidance strategies. Ecoforestry is basically well armed for this task. It should be even more orientated towards the adaptability and resilience of forests.


2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (s1) ◽  
pp. s65-s73
Author(s):  
Denis Horisberger ◽  
Micheline Meylan

When climatic changes are taken into account in forestry management, the question arises of the choice of tree species in order to adapt the forests to increased temperatures and stress arising from lack of water. The oak could be the main species accommodating itself to the new situation up to an altitude of about 900 m. A maximal development of this genetic inheritance adapted to our soils and the reinstallation of a network of oak forests would in fact give a new boost to the exceptional biodiversity linked to this species. In canton Vaud, the application of a sylviculture favourable to the oak would concern a relatively small and reasonable area of approximately 8,000 hectares, which corresponds to less than 20% of the surface theoretically adapted to this species, with a rhythm of rejuvenation of about 40 hectares a year.


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 173-179
Author(s):  
M.B. Dyurgerov ◽  
M.G. Kunakhovitch ◽  
V.N. Mikhalenko ◽  
A. M. Sokalskaya ◽  
V. A. Kuzmichenok

The total area of glacierization of the Tien Shan in the boundary area of the USSR is about 8000 km2. The computation of mass balance was determined for this area in 12 river basins.In computation procedure, the vertical profile of snow accumulation in these regions and exponential dependence of variation of ablation with altitude are used. Thus the mass balance in each basin, bn, was calculated on the basis of these curves and represented in its relation with the equilibrium line altitude (ELA). It is shown that the relation ELA = f(bn) is linear when the range of bn values is close to zero, and in all altitude intervals this relation can be described by hypsographic curves, in all basins bn positive up to an ELA elevation of 3450 to 3500 m a.s.l. For average annual altitude of ELA, bn is negative for all regions. So the glaciers of these mountains add about 4 km3 of water to the total annual runoff.


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