Russian geographers have discovered that since the mid-19th century, the size of glaciers in the Northern Chuya Mountains in Altai has decreased, on average, by half, and continues to decline. The results of their work were published in the scientific journal Remote Sensing.
The Severo-Chuysky Ridge is home to a significant portion of the Altai glaciers, one of the most important mountain systems in southern Siberia. Experts from the University of St. Petersburg, the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Altai State University decided to study the dynamics of their change. The researchers examined traces of glacial boundaries that had been made since the first half of the 20th century, and also used satellite imagery, including archival footage.
It turns out that their area in the last 150 years is more than half, and more than in other parts of the Altai Mountains. Moreover, the retreat of the great glaciers accelerated. Until 2010, the Bolshoy Maashey glacier was shrinking by six to seven meters per year, now its edge is shrinking by an average of 14 meters per year.
Scientists say there are pros and cons to shrinking glaciers. On the one hand, this process contributes to the enlargement of the forest belt and the elevation of the vegetation boundary. However, melting glaciers changes the distribution of water in mountain rivers and erodes the rocks, leading to large-scale mudflows and landslides.
Source: Ferra
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