2023-05-12 14:51:00
The area of glaciers in Northern Chuya, a mountain range part of the larger Altai mountain range in Siberia, has shrunk to half of what it was in the 19th century, the 19th century said on Friday. Petersburg State University.
“We have found that since the mid-19th century, glaciers have shrunk by more than half – and more than in other regions of Altai,” said a statement from the university, citing the results of a study. conducted in partnership with the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Altai State University.
According to Dmitry Ganyushkin, a professor in the Department of Physical Geography and Landscape Planning at St. Petersburg University, glacier melting has accelerated in the region over the past decade.
Read also: A third of World Heritage glaciers will disappear by 2050
“If until 2010, the Maacheï glacier, where we conducted research, was retreating by 6 to 7 meters per year, its edge is now retreating on average by 14 meters per year,” warned the scientist, quoted by the press release.
According to the results of the study, the melting of glaciers not only contributes to the expansion of the forest belt, but it can affect economic activity and even threaten populations. This natural phenomenon leads to a modification of the water mass in mountain rivers during the year, increasing the risk of floods, gravity instability, erosion and mudslides, it is specified. .
Nearly two hundred glaciers are found in the central part of the Northern Chuya mountain range for a total ice area of 175 km2.
The Maacheï glacier, which covers 19.25 km2, gives rise to the river of the same name.
Northern Chuya forms together with Southern Chuya the Chuya Alps: a mountain system famous for its ten large glaciers popular with mountaineers.
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