TOMSK, Jan 22 – RIA Tomsk. Scientists of the Faculty of Geology and Geography of Tomsk State University (TSU FGG) during observations of the Altai glaciers found that due to global warming the Left Aktru glacier lost 10 meters of its height in 2020; the rise in temperatures was one of the records for the last 60 years of research, the university's press service reported.
Earlier it was reported that in May 2019, scientists of TSU with colleagues from the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IGRAS) restored constant observations of the mass balance on the Left Aktru glacier in Altai, which will make it possible to predict the reaction of glaciers to global warming. In 2020, scientists installed a set of new meteorological equipment on the Aktru glaciers.
"During this (2020) year, over the entire area of 5,3 square kilometers, the glacier (Left Aktru) has lost more than 10 meters of its height. 2019 was also warm, but this year the rate of mass loss has increased more than 2 times", – the head of the TSU FGG glacioclimatology laboratory Alexander Erofeev is quoted in the statement.
According to the press service, the reason for the weight loss is the rise in temperatures, which has become one of the record ones in the more than 60-year history of the TSU field station in the Aktru mountain-glacial basin. The data obtained was transmitted to the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich.
"With the active melting of glaciers, water consumption in mountain rivers increases, but the gradual depletion of their volume will be accompanied by a sharp decrease in the water content of the rivers and the consequences for the economy of the region. Another danger <...> is associated with the appearance of catastrophic floods caused by the breakthrough of dams of moraine-dammed lakes, which is very relevant for the Aktru mountain-glacial basin", – Erofeev added.Earlier it was reported that until recently in Russia there were only two glaciers, data on the state of which were collected in a constant mode, both located in the Caucasus. The territory of North Asia was not covered by regular measurements at all. Constant observations of the Altai glaciers ceased in the 90s of the twentieth century, and occasional observations in 2012, before their resumption in 2019.