Earth’s Cryosphere, 2022, Vol. XXVI, No. 6, p. 28-36.
SNOW COVER AND GLACIERS
FEATURES OF GLACIATION IN THE NORTHERN BAIKAL AREA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Ananicheva M.D.1,*, Abramov A.A.2, Kononov Yu.M.1, Patrikeeva I.A.3, Pakin G.Yu.1
1 Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 29, Moscow, 119017 Russia
2 Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institutskaya St. 2, Pushchino, 142290 Russia
3 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1, Moscow, 119991 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: maranan@gmail.com
Glaciation of the northern Baikal region is associated with the mountain ridges surrounding Lake Baikal. The underlying rocks are in the frozen state. The existing glaciers are remnants of the vast Pleistocene glaciation, and their area is subjected to continuous shrinking. The analysis of core samples from trees allowed us to reconstruct the climatic background of the glaciation changes in the recent past. A dendroclimatic curve is divided into two periods: the first period lasted until about 1860–1865, when the summer air temperature was almost always below the average temperature for the entire considered period (~16°С); the second part is characterized by the above-average temperatures. During the field work, the current state of the regional glaciation was described for the areas of the Baikalsky, Barguzinsky, and Verkhneangarsky ridges. The areas of glaciation were determined from the Landsat 7 and Sentinel-2 satellite images for 2000 and 2021 and were controlled by orthophotoplans based on the UAV survey in August 2021. The maximum reduction of the area over 21 years is generally typical for small forms of glaciation and reaches 10–30% for the main glaciers. Data on temperature regimes of air and rock surface along an altitudinal profile in the Verkhneangarsky Ridge were obtained for the first time.
Keywords: Baikal, glacier, permafrost, satellite image, temperature, precipitation, dendrochronology, paleoreconstruction
Recommended citation: Ananicheva M.D., Abramov A.A., Kononov Yu.M., Patrikeeva I.A., Pakin G.Yu., 2022. Features of glaciation in the northern Baikal area at the beginning of the 21st century. Earth’s Cryosphere 26 (6), 28–36.