| Summary: | The work presents multi-annual variability of cryosphere components in the Tatra Mountains in the second part of the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century. The results of direct field observations and methods of description statistics, moving averages and linear models were applied. The following values were calculated: maximum and minimum values, mean arithmetic values with standard errors, standard deviations, 11-years moving averages. Trends of the investigated data with normal distribution were calculated using the method of smallest squares, and their statistical significance was checked with t test (significance level α≤0,05). The determined trends poorly explain the multi-annual variability of cryosphere in the Tatras and they are usually not statistically significant. On the other hand, the trends of development of seasonal and multiannual, ground and underground components of cryosphere were convergent, despite the fact that they are different in terms of their susceptibility to climatic impulses. The obtained results revealed: a) decrease of days with snow cover and maximal thickness of snow cover, b) decrease of duration and thickness of ice cover on lakes, c) intensive mass exchange (“rejuvenation”) of glacierets, and d) degradation of permafrost patches. These changes evidence an air temperature increase both in winter seasons and summer seasons and the decrease of snow precipitation. They are also consistent with global changes of cryosphere.
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