Abstract
The conditions, the main stages of development, and the evolution of glaciation of the mountain systems of Kyrgyzstan have been thoroughly analyzed. The tendency of changes in the basic climatic elements—air temperature and precipitation has been studied at two high-altitude meteorological stations of the Tien Shan and Gissaro-Alai. The results of the monitoring of the mass balance of representative glaciers has been presented and the current scales of degradation and retreat of the Kyrgyz glaciers under conditions of modern directed warming of the surface layer has been analyzed. The air temperature and precipitation trends have an asynchronous course, a negative sign dominates in the balance of glacier mass in the vast majority of the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai mountain systems as a consequence of global climate warming. As a result, the degradation of glaciers intensifies, and they shrink with different intensities depending on their location in mountain systems. Based on satellite images of “Landsat-8” from 2013 to 2016, an inventory of glaciers has been taken, an updated Catalog of Kyrgyzstan glaciers have been compiled and published.
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Usubaliev, R.A. et al. (2021). The Glacial Systems of Kyrgyzstan Under Climate Change. In: Kulenbekov, Z.E., Asanov, B.D. (eds) Water Resource Management in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68337-5_7
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