World Atlas of Snow and Ice Resources. A.I. Voeikov's Opinions

摘要

World Atlas of Snow and Ice Resources, created in the 1980s and 1990s [1—3] is a unique compilation of existing information on snow and ice resources on the Earth, a kind of an encyclopedia of modern glaciolog- ical knowledge. The Atlas contains more than 1000 maps based on a wide dataset on snow—ice resources, collected from around the world over the past 30—50 years. Among these data are characteristics of the snow-ice resources, their distribution, and the regime and variability of snow—ice phenomena and processes throughout the evolution of the modern Earth's glaciosphere. Average perennial data, presented on maps of the Atlas, demonstrate the state of nival-glacial systems (NGS) over the 30-year period (from 1950 to 1980) of study. Currently, an electronic version of the Atlas is being created, which will allow researchers to conduct a variety of calculations on the basis of maps of the Atlas. The electronic version of the original maximum snow storage map of Eurasia has already been created [4], combining the relevant data from maps of four sections of the Atlas: the Arctic, USSR, Europe, and Asia. This version was used for our work.