Scientists will register the Altai glaciers
In a joint expedition, researchers from Tomsk State University and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IGRAN) resumed observations of the mass balance on the Left Aktru glacier in Altai. This is one of the three glaciers in Northern Eurasia for which direct observational data will be collected in a permanent form. Measuring mass balance over time is crucial for understanding the response of glaciers to climate change and assessing regional changes in water resources and global sea level rise.
- Aktru glaciers are reference objects of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. The change in the mass of glaciers of the entire glacial Northern Eurasia region was estimated based on a series of direct observations at these glaciers, - explains Stanislav Kutuzov, a leading researcher and head of the glaciology department of IGRAN (Moscow). - Unfortunately, since the mid-1990s observations of the components of the ice balance were performed only sporadically, and in 2012 the observations stopped completely.
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