Ecology AKIpress – Glacier degradation is ongoing and cannot be stopped. This is a natural process in nature, said Rysbek Satylkanov, Director of the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, at a meeting of the Alliance faction on March 14.
He noted that in Kyrgyzstan, unlike neighboring Central Asian countries, glacier research and monitoring declined in the 1990s.
Today, research and monitoring are carried out by Kyrgyzhydromet, the Central Asian Institute of Earth Research and the Tien Shan High Mountain Research Center at the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic. Monitoring of the glaciers of the Central, Inner and Northern Tien Shan and the Chon-Alai glaciers is underway.
“According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to global warming, the temperature rose by 1.1°C in 1880-2022. And our Tien Shan-Kumtor station is located not far from Kumtor, where the temperature rose by 1.9°C in 1930-2024. That is, it is warming twice as much as the planet’s average. There is also the Kyzyl-Suu weather station on Issyk-Kul, the only stable one that does not change its location. Since 1951, the temperature there has risen by 1.5°C. In the forest zone, we have the Chon-Kyzyl-Suu weather station, where the temperature has risen by 1.1°C since 1948. You see, this is the influence of the forest. This is the main reason,” Satylkanov said.
The second reason for the melting of glaciers, the director of the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower Engineering named solar radiation. He said that they have 3 stations on the Kara-Batkak glacier, in three zones, on the Sary-Tor, Bordu and Grigoriev glaciers, automatic stations with more than 20 sensors are operating.
“Based on this data, I would like to give just one example. As you know, in 2020 it was cold, the temperature was low, and precipitation, according to the Tien Shan station, was 592 mm. And the long-term precipitation level is 326 mm. The balance of the Sary-Tor glacier is 10 mm of water equivalent, which means that 1 cm of the glacier layer melted. And in 2023, the temperature was high, there was less precipitation, the balance was 1510 mm, or 1.5 meters of water melted and poured into the Naryn River. That is, it is different every year. The balance of the Sary-Tor glacier in 1930-2023 averaged 400 mm, in 2014-2024 – 820 mm. That is, 82 cm of the water layer poured into the Naryn River. Degradation is ongoing and it will not stop. This is a natural process in nature,” Satylkanov concluded.
He also noted that, according to data from scientists at the Tien Shan Physical-Geographical Station in the 1950s and 1960s, 13 thousand years ago in the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai mountains the total area of glaciers was 60 thousand square kilometers.
“And according to our data, obtained jointly with European and Russian partners, in the 1850s, during the Little Ice Age, in the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai mountains, the area of glaciers was 11.5 thousand square kilometers. And according to CAIAG data for 2013-2016, the area of glaciers was 6.4 thousand square kilometers,” said the director of the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower.
Satylkanov said that today there is only enough strength to protect the glaciers. “How will we protect the glacier from sunlight?” he asked.
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