Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World: ASIA. Glaicers of the Former Soviet Union

摘要

Glaciers in the Former Soviet Union cover a total area of 78,938 km2; 72 percent (56,894 km2) are in the Russian Arctic (Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, and Wrangel Island) and 28 percent (22,044 km2) in various mountain ranges (mainly the Caucasus, Pamirs, Alai Range (Alayskiy Khrebet), Tien Shan, Altay, Ural Mountains, and those of Northeastern Siberia) in Russia and in the Republics of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The Glacier Inventory of the USSR and the World Atlas of Snow and Ice Resources records a total of 26,881 glaciers, 1,983 in the Russian Arctic, and 24,898 in Russia and in the four independent republics. Information from the Glacier Inventory, World Atlas, Landsat 1, 2, and 3 MSS images from the 10-year Landsat Baseline Period (19721981), Soviet space imagery, aerial photographs, and maps were used to provide information on the glacierized areas. Russian glaciologists recognize 20 morphological types of mountain glaciers and 7 types of ice caps, ice fields, and ice sheets from a global perspective (World Atlas). Glaciers in the Former Soviet Union represent 11 of the 20 types of mountain glaciers and all of the types of ice caps and ice fields. The early (19721981) Landsat MSS images were found to be useful in delineating the margins and ice divides on ice caps and the termini and some margins of larger mountain glaciers, if the images were acquired under conditions of minimum cloud cover and late season, residual snow pack, but before new snowfall. Analysis of changes in smaller glaciers was not possible with the limitations of pixel resolution (80 m) of MSS images. Later Landsat TM and more recent Landsat ETM+ and ASTER images have overcome the spatial resolution problem. The Resurs-F1 KFA-1000 photographs and Landsat MSS images were especially useful for identifying surge-type glaciers and for determining the position of termini of glaciers.