Fedchenko glacier
| Fedchenko glacier | ||
|---|---|---|
 Landsat 7 satellite image from 08/22/2008 |
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| location | Tajikistan | |
| Mountains | Pamir | |
| length | 70 km | |
| surface | 952 km² | |
| Altitude range | 6200 m - 2900 m | |
| Coordinates | 38 ° 46 ′ N , 72 ° 17 ′ E | |
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| drainage | Seldara → Muksu → Wachsch | |
The Fedchenko Glacier ( Russian Ледник Федченко , English Fedchenko Glacier ) in the Pamirs in Tajikistan is 70 km long and 2 to 3 km wide, the world's longest glacier outside the polar regions.
The 952 km² large valley glaciers was by Alexei Fedchenko , the Russian scientist and explorer of Central Asia named the 1871 on a research trip to Turkestan beyond the Alaigebirges designated by him Transalai , discovered the northern edge of the Pamir Mountains was the first European.
The Fedchenko Glacier runs in a northerly direction to the east side of Pik Garmo . It begins at an altitude of 6200 m above sea level. Its meltwater flows at an altitude of about 2900 m into the Seldara , the left source river of the Muksu .
The Fedchenko Glacier was discovered as early as 1878, but its length was assumed to be only about 20 km. In 1928 the Academy of Sciences of the USSR carried out a German-Soviet Alai-Pamir expedition with the German and Austrian Alpine Association under the direction of the Asian researcher Willi Rickmer Rickmers . The glacier was completely measured with the help of terrestrial photogrammetry by the deputy German expedition leader Richard Finsterwalder . Its ice thickness is a maximum of 1000 m and an average of 500 m, its volume 46 km³. A map of the entire glacier area on a scale of 1: 50,000 was created.
As part of the International Geophysical Year in 1958, a group of researchers from the German Democratic Republic took part in a glaciological Pamir expedition of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences to further explore the Fedchenko Glacier. It was found that there was a decrease in icing . The tongue of the Fedchenko Glacier thawed back 420 m between 1928 and 1958. During this period, 1 km³ of ice was lost.
During the entire 20th century it has already lost 1.4% of its length (0.98 km) and 2 km³ of ice.
Web links
- UNEP / GRID-Arendal Map of glaciation in the Pamir Mountains (English)
- Fedtschenkogletscher . Encyclopædia Britannica online edition. (English)
- The First National Communication of the Republic of Tajikistan under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Republic of Tajikistan, Ministry of Nature Conservation, Dushanbe 2002. (English; PDF file; 2.09 MB)
- Tajikistan 2002, Vital Maps and Graphics on Climate Change. Tajikistan Met Service. (English)
- Tajikistan - Topography and Drainage. US Department of the Army, Published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress . (English)