Scientists have quantified the glacier mass loss on the Kamchatka Peninsula; the accelerated loss in the region since the turn of the millennium is likely to increase in the short term.
Scientists have quantified the glacier mass loss on the Kamchatka Peninsula; the accelerated loss in the region since the turn of the millennium is likely to increase in the short term.
One of the many effects of global warming and climate change is the reduction in the size of glaciers due to accelerated melting. The most severe of these losses has been seen in mountain glaciers, which have contributed to 80% of the global reduction in glacier volume. The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia is one such region; however, their loss is less understood—despite the influence and importance of these glaciers in water circulation in the North Pacific Ocean.
A team of researchers led by Professor Shin Sugiyama at the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, has used satellite data to reveal glacier mass changes on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Their discoveries, which show that 4.9 gigatons of ice was lost across the peninsula in the last 20 years, were published in the Journal of Glaciology.
The Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia is a cold region with heavy snowfall of up to 1200 mm per year. The peninsula has a long mountain range and many active volcanoes, and there are a total of 405 glaciers in the peninsula. Freshwater flowing into the Sea of Okhotsk from the Kamchatka Peninsula plays an important role in the seawater circulation in the North Pacific Ocean. Hence, it is vital to understand the glacier dynamics in the region; however, the analysis of glacier fluctuations in the Kamchatka Peninsula was scarce.
Read more at Hokkaido University
Image: Shungo Fukumoto (blue parka), lead author of the paper, with members of student climbing club Academic Alpine Club of Hokkaido, Hokkaido University, during their expedition to the study site in Kamchatka in 2016 (Photo: Shungo Fukumoto).
