Fifty years of studying the Medvezhiy Glacier (West Pamirs) by the Institute of Geography, RAS


https://doi.org/10.15356/2076-6734-2015-1-129-140

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Abstract

Overview of researches conducted over 50 years (1963–2012) by Institute of Geography RAS on the surging glacier Medvezhiy, the West Pamirs is given. Ground investigations (changes of its surface altitude, ice movement velocity, ablation, ice thickness, temperature and others) made after surge 1963 allowed finding the basic features of this glacier regime and calculating the mass balance of its surging part for the whole cycle from the recovery phase up to a surge. Using the results a quality model for prediction of rapid motions of surging glaciers had been developed. Forecast of the next surge of the Medvezhiy Glacier made for 1973 on the basis of this model had been justified. As a result of the aerial and topographic monitoring (1989–1991) the glacier surge was quantitatively followed for the first time over its whole cycle, i.e. from a surge up to a next stage of its recovery. Results of our researches allowed formulating the foundations of the space monitoring of surging glaciers. In 2001 and 2011 surges of the glacier were detected and traced using the satellite imagery (MIR, ISS). In total for 50 years, five surges of this glacier and two full cycles of its life were investigated by various methods in different details.

About the Author

G. B. Osipova
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Russian Federation


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For citation: Osipova G.B. Fifty years of studying the Medvezhiy Glacier (West Pamirs) by the Institute of Geography, RAS. Ice and Snow. 2015;55(1):129-140. https://doi.org/10.15356/2076-6734-2015-1-129-140

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