Present-Day Glaciers in the U.S.S.R. and Some Data on their Mass Balance

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Grosval’d, M. G., Kotlyakov, V. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1969
• Subjects: Arctic; Pacific; Atlantic Arctic; Atlantic-Arctic; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000020748; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000020748

There are four major glacier regions in the U.S.S.R.: the Atlantic-Arctic, Atlantic-Eurasian, East Siberian and Pacific-Asian, which can be divided into 19 separate glacier areas. The total area of the glaciers in the country amounts to 81 900 km 2 , and the volume of water stored in them to 13 750 km 3 . The main characteristic features of glacier regime, such as the elevation of the equilibrium line, the value of the total accumulation at the equilibrium line, the vertical gradients of net balance, the “glacier ratios”. etc., are estimated for the majority of the glacier areas. The data on mass balance of the glaciers in the Polar Urals and Tien Shan which were obtained by direct measurement during the last decade are tabulated and compared. It has been found that the glacier balance changes in the two areas are nonsynchronous. A comparison of the variations in mass balance of the Lednik IGAN in the Polar Urals, and the Grosser Aletschgletscher in the Swiss Alps, over a period of several decades suggests a cyclic trend of the variations in both regions (with a wave-length of about 22 years), and the direct opposition in their phase. The analogy of 22-year cycles of the balance variations with the cyclic fluctuations of the same wave-length in solar activity seems to be quite evident, whereas the atmospheric circulation appears to be one of the main intermediate variables in the chain sun-glaciers responsible for the out-of-phase relationship in glacier variations of certain areas. In conclusion, some data on the present changes in glacier regime are given, as well as general information on glaciological studies carried on in the U.S.S.R. within the framework of the I.H.D. programmes. The latter include the compilation of the Soviet Union inventory of perennial snow and ice masses, the continuous measurement of glacier variations, and the research on combined heat, mass and water balances at selected mountain glacier basins.