[M-ZZ39] Environmental, socio-economic and climatic changes in Northern Eurasia

[MZZ39-04] Changes in mountain glacier systems and the distribution of main climatic parameters on the territory of Russia (second part of the XX –beginning of the XXI century).

*Tatiana Khromova¹, Gennady Nosenko¹, Valeria Popova¹, Ludmila Chernova¹, Stanislav Nikitin¹, Anton Muraviev¹ (1.Institute of Geography RAS)

Keywords:Mountain glaciers, climate change, remote sensing

Mountain glaciers are vital sources of water worldwide to many densely-populated regions. Most glaciers are now shrinking, resulting in variable water supplies and sustained sea level rise. Rapid glacier change threatens water, energy and food security. Further glacier mass loss is likely in response to recent climate change, driven by global increases in air temperatures. However, high altitudes and rugged topography generate regional weather systems that complicate the investigation of the relationship between climate and glacier change. Predictive models need to move beyond the state-of-the-art to couple advanced climate models with accurate representations of glacier processes, and more detailed and reliable data describing the state of mountain glaciers are required to constrain these models, both from monitoring individual glaciers and regional remote-sensing observations.

Glaciation exists on the territory of Russia for thousands of years. At present both mountain glaciers and continental ice sheets are present there. Continental ice sheets are located on islands and archipelagoes of Russian Arctic region and mountain glaciers are wide-spread on continental part of the country where it currently covers the area of about 3,480,000 km². Now there are 18 mountain glacier regions on the territory of Russia.

We present recent data on glaciers state and changes in mountain regions of Russia based on remote sensing and in situ studies and distribution of main climatic parameters that affect the existence of glaciers: summer air temperature and winter precipitations.

Acknowledgements. This presentation includes the results of research project No. 0148-2014-0007 of the Research Plan of the Institute of Geography, RAS and research project supported by the Russian Geographical Society (grant number No. 09/2017-I).