Earth’s Cryosphere, 2023, Vol. XXVII, No. 3, p. 28-35.
SURFACE AND GROUND WATERS IN TERRESTRIAL PERMAFROST REGION
CHARACTERISTICS OF GLACIAL FEEDING OF RIVERS
V.G. Konovalov
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 29, Moscow, 119017 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: vladgeo@gmail.com
Regional calculation of the hydrological regime of glaciation includes the determination of long-term changes in glacial runoff and glacial feed in river basins of the Northern Hemisphere. For the Rhone River basin, monitoring data on glaciation parameters over the period of 1971–2016 and long-term data on precipitation and air temperature at weather stations of Switzerland were used for hydrological and glaciological calculations. The results of linear extrapolation of spatiotemporal changes in the altitude-area characteristics of the classified groups of glaciers proved to be sufficient for calculating the hydrological regime of glaciation. An adequate description of seasonal and long-term glacial feeding of rivers should take into account variations in the ablation of glaciers depending on the five types of active glacier surface and their altitude-area characteristics. Satisfactory absolute and relative estimates of differences between the measured runoff and the precipitation, evaporation, and glacial feeding in the upper Rhone River in 1971–2010 (Porte du Scex gauging station), as well as between the measured and calculated annual precipitation in the Rhone River basin for 1971–2016, were obtained.
Keywords: water balance, glacial runoff, Eurasia, modeling, classification of glaciers, ablation, precipitation,
basin of the Rhone River
Recommended citation: Konovalov V.G., 2023. Characteristics of glacial feeding of rivers. Earth’s Cryosphere XXVII (3), 28–35.