Where are the largest coverage glaciers? Glaciers of Russia: list and photos. Mountain glaciers of Russia

Glaciers played important to replenish all rivers of the world. 16 million square meters. km - such a total area, it is about 11% of all sushi. They contain huge stocks of fresh water. In Russia, their huge number, area of \u200b\u200babout 60 thousand square meters. km. Glaciers of Russia are divided into two types, according to the method of their education:

• Cover. This is the overwhelming majority of all glacial systems in the country. These include the ice of Franz Joseph, New Earth, Northern Earth and other Islands of the Arctic. The average thickness on the islands in the Arctic Ocean is from 100 to 300 meters. They store huge stocks of fresh water.
• Mountain glaciers of Russia. Their share in the total area is only 5%. These are the ice accumulations of the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, the Urals, Kamchatka. For their formation, you need two conditions: negative air and precipitation temperatures. Often, if rains often go in the mountains, they are accompanied by warm weather.

Variety of glaciers

Classifications of glaciers, including mountain, there is a lot. What kind of varieties can you meet in our country?

• Snow spots. Snow accumulation in gentle valleys and slopes.
• Glaciers stepe-shaped slopes. The snowy mass is going to the shadow foot of the mountain and feeds on the devoted avalanches.
• Hanging glaciers. Located on steep slopes, as if having a hanging over it. They are small, but are dangerous, as they can break down.
• Carry glaciers. Snow masses in the cornities of the valleys, with a steep back wall.
• Glaciers of volcanic peaks. Occupy the peaks of the mountains.
• Purchase glaciers. They have a common start - the top of the ridge, but the ranks in opposite to it.
• Norwegian type. This type of glacier is transition from the mountainous to the coating. Ice caps of pla on vertices spread down. Having reached the edge, separate foci descend down.
• Valley are located in the mountain valleys.

Mountain glaciers of Russia do not remain the same in the area. Some are reduced, others increase, there are also those that change their location by moving. What are the largest Glaciers of Russia? List of 5 largest mountain Systems With perennial ice looks like this.

Caucasus

This is the largest center for the accumulation of mountain glaciers. On the Russian part i.e. In the north of its slope, huge masses are concentrated, a total area of \u200b\u200b1400 sq. Km. This is more than 2,000 glaciers. Mostly they little size, up to 1 square. km in diameter. The largest glacier in Russia is a complex in Kabardino-Balkaria, an area of \u200b\u200bover 120 square meters. km. Another major snow peak in the Caucasus - Top extluous volcano Kazbek. It is here that more than 60% of all the Idges of the Caucasus are concentrated. A feature is their highlight character. The Russian part of the snowy peaks of the Grand Caucasus is located on its northern slope, it is more smooth and extended, unlike southern. There are more than 70% of the ice of the Great Caucasus. The southern slope is cool and incisive, on it 30% of snow Caucasian Gor.. IMPORTANT VALUE OF THENATION OF THIS RANGE has for powering rivers that take the beginning here. It is white, Zelenchuk, Laba - and - Ardon, Urum, Baksan. Caucasian mountain glaciers retreat and their area is reduced. Although such a decrease is insignificant, the nutrition of rivers suffers from it. During the century, the snow line level rose by 70-75 cm. Sometimes there is a short-term onset of ice in some areas.

Altai

In the second place in the list of the biggest mountain glaciers in the country there are snow Altai. Here, in the south of Siberia, about 1,500 foci, which occupy an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 900 square meters. km. The largest glaciations in Katuan, South Chui and the North Chui ridges. Large masses are focused on the grief of Belukha, where the Great Altai River Katun and her tributaries originates. These places have become the most beloved and popular with climbers on all Altai. Here is the Glacier to the Akké. Some believe that he has a special energy, and charges her visitors. Another snowy peak of Altai - Aktra. Mountain is famous for the colossal temperature difference. In the summer there is a non-supported heat, and in winter - harsh cold. For this, the actra is considered the local point of the cold. Temperature here lowers up to minus 62ºС. But even despite such heavy climatic conditions, there are many wishes to see these glaciers of Russia. Pictures of their landscapes just fascinate.

Kamchatka

The modern glaciation of the peninsula has a significant scale. Snow masses are larger here than in the Caucasus. There are about 450 more than 900 square meters. km. The main concentration of them on the Middle Range and the Klyuchevsk Group. Glaciers of Russia in Kamchatka have interesting feature. They are referred to as the so-called caldera, due to the method of education. They are formed in calderars and craters of volcanoes and sills, which are a huge amount on the peninsula. In Kamchatka, the warm season is short, and the snow that falls on the vertices of the horses does not have time to melt. Another feature of the snow kamchatka is their low location. Glaciers descend from vertices to a height of 1600 meters. Of great importance in the life of the snow have volcanic eruptions. During the eruption, the glaciers are actively melted and fill the rivers with melt water.

Koryak Ridge

It is called still located on Far East, captures the Chukotka Autonomous District and Kamchatka Krai. The total number of glaciers here is 1330, and their area is more than 250 sq. km. Koryak Highlands consists of short ridges and grooves, which stretch from the northeast to the southwest. Glaciers of Russia in the Far East elongated, up to 4 km long. They are very low, much lower than the snow line, at the level of 700-1000 meters. This is due to climatic conditions and the close location of the Cold Sea. Another glacier in Russia - - its highest point is at the level of 2562 meters.

Mountains Suntar Hayat

These Glaciers of Russia are located in the territory of Yakutia and the Khabarovsk Territory. Here they have 208 pieces, with a total area of \u200b\u200bover 200 kV km. The ridge reached for 450 km, and the highest point of him - Mount Cape Haya - at the level of almost 3000 meters. In addition to mountain glaciers, there are about 800 square meters. km Tyrynov. This is so called a large multi-year floor, which is formed during the freezing of groundwater.

The thickness of such ice is usually about 8 meters. Santar-Hayat is a watershed of such large Siberia rivers, as an indigilian, Aldan, and the rivers of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk.

Global warming threatens to melt the glaciers. In the news, it is also talking about the threat to the disappearance of a icy river. In the meantime, they did not deliver it to hurry and see the selection of the most beautiful glaciers of the world.

1. Glacier Biafo., Pakistan

Due to its secluded location in the very center of the high-mountainous region in North Pakistan, the Biafo glacier practically did not touch the civilization. The journey to the huge "snowy lake" on the edge of the ice plane will require several days, which, due to the magnificence of the surrounding flora and fauna, will not be boring. Go to the campaign is better being in good physical form. Otherwise, the opportunity to instead of contemplating the pristine beauty of nature instead of contemplating, admire only the earth under his feet.

2. Merino Glacier, Argentina

In the National Park, Lago Archentino, there are as many as 13 glaciers, but the most beautiful of them is recognized by the Perito-Moreno Glacier. Ice river, the height of which is 60 meters, divides alpine lake Archentino on 2 parts: rich sea and southern sea. Beating a path through the glacier on the canal, gradually the water of these seas destroy it, and the tourists thanks to this can admire the type of huge blocks of ice falling into the water. On the territory of the reserve you can meet Guanako, Ostrich-Nanda and even Condor - the biggest bird in the world.

3. Gleisher Bay, Alaska

Gleisher Bay - Giant national Parkwhich is located on the southeastern coast of Alaska and is under the protection of UNESCO. Hiking excursions on the territory of the reserve are practically absent - the examination of glaciers is carried out from an airplane or helicopter. However, behind sparkling ice can be observed and without leaving the hotel, which is located right on the territory of the park. In addition, the iceberg glacier from the edge of the iceberg glacier and the raised ice boulders can be admired by performing a cruise along the coast. In the surrounding waters of the reserve, you can stumble upon whales, walrles and even dolphins, and bears and deer in coastal forests.

4. Glacier Furtvengler, Tanzania

Since the beginning of the century, a glacier who is almost at the equator is gradually melting and, by 2020, according to scientists forecasts, it will completely disappear. Furtvengler is located at an altitude of more than 5000 meters, from the northern side of Kilimanjaro, near her vertex

5. Glacier Pastec, Austria

Pastec - the largest of 925 Austrian glaciers, also disappears little and, according to predictions, for 2100, less than half of its presents will remain. In the meantime, this looks for a fixed ice river 9 kilometers long slowly descends from a height of 3,500 meters to the top of the Gloss Glossor.

6. Glacier Vatnayokul, Iceland

The largest Iceland Glacier is approximately 80 percent of the total area of \u200b\u200bthe cover of the ice of the island, which received its name due to the frozen water. Its cracked huge fields spread out 8300 square kilometers. Compare with cold beauty of ice frozen in the intricate bends of Lava, located next door, volcanic landscape. Favorite tourist entertainment: descent to ice cleft, glacier climbing, snow rafta riding and swimming in thermal sources of ice caves.

7. Glacier Julong, China

Scientists have already foreshadowed themselves southern Glaccier China's disappearance, but systematic observations of its movement, which have been carried out since 1982, pessimistic forecasts refute: depending on climate fluctuations, the glacier retreats several hundred meters upwards, then again descends down. The lower limit of the glacier is currently located at an altitude of about 4,200 meters above sea level, and it is not so easy to get on it just because of the strong affairs of the air.

8. Glaciers Fox and Franz Joseph, New Zealand

Frozen waterfall flowing from the western slope of the Southern Alps, the glaciers are so closely suitable for subtropical evergreen forests, that their neighborhood seems completely unnatural.

9. Glacier Atabasca, Canada

Another fast melting glacier, which is considered the most beautiful in North America, Lost recently almost half of its volume. Currently, it has the length of only about 6 kilometers. Such a rapid melting turned out that the glacier is all the time in motion and therefore it is strictly forbidden to walk along it alone, without accompanying the guide.

10. Antarctic

And, of course, the most ice and snow can be seen in Antarctica, which, probably, was the reason for the increased popularity of the continent because of the global climate warming. If 6-7 thousand people traveled here in the 90s in the 90s, then last year the number of tourists reached 45,000, and therefore the number of incidents caused by the ecology of the region. Therefore, quite recently, 28 countries leading to the Antarctic scientific, signed an agreement on the restriction of tourism on the mainland.

Dedicated to my family, Euoul (Yeoul), Costa and Stas.

Glaciers on Earth and in the Solar System

About ten percent of sushi are covered with glaciers - many years of snow masses, frana (from nem.. FIRN - last year's blind grainy snow) and ice, possessing their own movement. These huge ice rivers, cutting valleys and the rapid mountains, which weighing continents, store 80% of the reserves of fresh water of our planet.

The role of glaciers in the evolution of the globe and man is colossal. The last 2 million years of glacial eras became a powerful impetus for primates. Sigor weather conditions forced the hominid to the struggle for existence in cold conditions, life in caves, the emergence and development of clothing, widespread use of fire. The sea level dropped due to the growth of glaciers and the drainage of the many of the cumshots contributed to the migration of ancient people in America, Japan, Malaysia and Australia.

The largest foci of modern glaciation includes:

• Antarctica - Terra incognita, opened only 190 years ago and became the record holder of the absolute minimum temperature on Earth: -89.4 ° C (1974); At this temperature freezes kerosene;
• Greenland, deceptively called green earth, - "Ice Heart" of the Northern Hemisphere;
• Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Majestic Cordillera, where one of the most picturesque and powerful centers of glaciation - Alaska, a real modern relic of Pleistocene;
• the most grand area of \u200b\u200bthe glaciation of Asia - the "abode of the snow" of Himalayas and Tibet;
• "Roof of the World" Pamir;
• Andes;
• "Heavenly Mountains" Tien Shan and "Black Osprey" Karakorum;
• no matter how surprisingly, the glaciers are even in Mexico, tropical Africa ("Sparkling Mountain" Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Mount Rouvenzori) and on New Guinea!

Science, learning glaciers and other natural systems, properties and dynamics of which are determined by ice, is called glyciology (from lat. glacies. - ice). "Ice" is a monomineral rock, found in 15 crystalline modifications for which there are no names, and there are only code numbers. They differ in different types of crystalline symmetry (or forms of the elementary cell), the number of oxygen atoms in the cell and other physical parameters. The most common modification is hexagonal, but there is also a cubic and tetragonal, etc. All of these modifications of the solid water phase we are conditionally and denote by one single word "ice".

Ice and glaciers in the solar system are found everywhere: in the shadow of Crater Mercury and the Moon; in the form of marzlotes and polar caps of Mars; in the nucleus of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; On Europe - the satellite of Jupiter, completely, like a shell, covered with multi-kilometer ice; On other satellites of Jupiter - Ganymed and Callisto; on one of the Lun Saturn - Encelade, with the most pure Ice. The solar system, where, from the cracks of the ice shell with a supersonic speed, the jets of water vapor vehicle hundreds of kilometers are broken; Perhaps on satellites of uranium - Miranda, Neptune - Triton, Pluto - Charon; Finally, in comets. However, by coating astronomical circumstances, Earth - unique placewhere the existence of water on the surface is possible immediately in the three phases - liquid, solid and gaseous.

The fact is that the ice is a very young Mineral of the Earth. The ice is the latest and most surface mineral not only by specific weight: if the temperature stages of differentiation of the substance in the process of becoming the earth as an initial gaseous body, then the ice form is the last stage. It is for this reason that snow and ice on the surface of our planet are located everywhere near the melting point and are subject to the slightest change in climate.

But in the temperature conditions of the Earth from one phase to another, water is translated, then for cold Mars (with a temperature drop from -140 ° C to + 20 ° C) water is mainly in the crystal phase (although there are processes of sublimation, leading even to education Clouds), and much more substantial phase transitions is no longer water, but carbon dioxide, falling out as snow while decaying the temperature, or evaporating when it increases (thus, the mass of the atmosphere of Mars varies from the season by 25%).

Height and melting of glaciers

For the occurrence of the glacier, a combination of climatic conditions and relief is necessary, in which the annual amount of snow dropped (taking into account the blizzards and avalanche) will exceed decrease ( ablation) due to melting and evaporation. Under such conditions there is plenty of snow, firgo and ice, which, under the action of its own weight, begins to flow down the slope.

The glacier has atmospheric sedimentation. In other words, every gram of ice, whether it is a modest glacier in Hibinz or a giant Ice Dome of Antarctica, was brought by weightless snowflakes, which year after year, the millennium of the Millennium falls out in the cold regions of our planet. Thus, glaciers are a temporary stop of water between the atmosphere and the ocean.

Accordingly, if the glaciers grow, the level of the ocean is lowered (for example, up to 120 m during the last glacial period); If reduced and retreat - then the sea rises. One of the consequences of this is the existence on the shelf area of \u200b\u200bthe Arctic areas of relict underwater Merzlotacovered with thick water. In the era of the glaesting, the mainland shelf was gradually moderated due to lowering the sea level. After re-lifting the sea, the permafrost formed in this way was founded under the water of the Arctic Ocean, where it continues to exist so far due to the low temperature of sea water (-1.8 ° C).

If all the glaciers of the world melted, the sea level would rise by 64-70 meters. Now the annual onset of the sea is happening at a speed of 3.1 mm per year, of which about 2 mm is the result of increasing the volume of water due to thermal expansion, and the remaining millimeter is the result of the intensive melting of the Mountain glaciers of Patagonia, Alaska and Himalayas. Recently, this process is accelerating, increasingly affecting Greenland and Western Antarctic glaciers, and, according to the latest estimates, the rise of the sea level by 2100 can be 200 cm. This will significantly change the coastline, eaten from the world map not one island and takes away from hundreds Millions of people in the prosperous Netherlands and Poor Bangladesh, in the Pacific countries and the Caribbean, in other parts of the globe coastal territories with a total area of \u200b\u200bmore than 1 million square kilometers.

Types of glaciers. Icebergs

Glaciologists allocate the following main types of glaciers: glaciers mountain vertices, glacier dome and shields, slopes glaciers, valley glaciers, mesh glacier systems (Characteristic, for example, for Spitsberegen, where ice completely fills the valleys, and only the tops of the mountains remain over the surface of the glacier). In addition, the continuation of ground glaciers highlight sea glaciers and shelf glaciers, which are floating or relying on the bottom of the slabs with an area of \u200b\u200bup to several hundred thousand square kilometers (the largest shelf glacier - the Ross Glacier in Antarctica - takes 500 thousand km 2, which is approximately equal to the territory of Spain).

The shelf glaciers rise and descend along with tides and lowers. From time to time, giant ice islands are chipped from them - the so-called cutlery icebergsthickness up to 500 m. Only one tenth volume is over the water, which is why the movement of the iceberg depends more from marine currents, and not from the winds and because of which the icebergs more than once became the cause of the death of ships. After the Titanic tragedy, a thorough observation is underway for Iceberg. Nevertheless, the catastrophe in the fault of the icebergs occur in our days - for example, the wreck of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez. On March 24, 1989, the shores of Alaska occurred when the ship was trying to avoid collisions with Iceberg.

The highest iceberg registered in the northern hemisphere had a height of 168 meters. And the biggest out of ever-described icebergs was observed on November 17, 1956 from the GLAGER icebreaker ( USS Glacier.): His length was 375 km, the width is more than 100 km, and the area is more than 35 thousand km 2 (more than Taiwan or Kyushu Island)!

Already since the 1950s, commercial transportation of icebergs in countries experiencing a shortage of fresh water are seriously discussed. In 1973, one of these projects was proposed - with a budget of 30 million dollars. This project attracted the attention of scientists and engineers from around the world; He headed it saudi Prince Mohammed al-Faisal. But because of the numerous technical problems and unresolved issues (for example, an iceberg ruling over the melting and displacement can, as if they are knotted, pull the cruiser to the bottom of his cruiser) the implementation of the idea is postponed for the future.

To focus incommensurable in the size of the Iceberg planet and transport melting in warm waters And shrouded in the fog of an ice island in thousands of kilometers of the ocean - until the person is unable.

It is curious that when melting ice iceberg spits, like a soda (" bergy Selzer") - You can make sure that any polar institute can be convicted if you are treated with a glass of whiskey with pieces of such ice. This ancient air, compressed under high pressure (up to 20 atmospheres), is pulled out when melting from bubbles. The air was captured during the conversion of snow into fir and ice, after which it was compressed with a huge pressure of the mass of the glacier. Preserved story dutch navigator XVI century Barents Villem on how iceberg, near which his vessel stood (at the new land), suddenly, with terrible noise, scattered on hundreds of pieces, leading to the horror of all people on board.

Anatomy of the glacier

The glacier is conditionally divided into two parts: upper - power areawhere the accumulation and turning of snow in frang and ice, and the bottom - ablation areawhere the snow accumulated in winter becomes. The line dividing these two areas is called glacier food border. The newly formed ice gradually flows from the top of the power supply to the lower ablation area, where melting occurs. Thus, the glacier is included in the process of geographic moisture exchange between the hydrosphere and the troposphere.

Orthodox, ledges, an increase in the slope of the glacial beds change the relief of the glacial surface. In steal places, where ice voltages are extremely high, icefalls and cracks may occur. Himalayan Glacier Carto. (Mountain district Lagul, Lahaul) begins the Grand Field of 2100 m height! Real kneaders of giant columns and ice towers (so-called siekov) The icefall is literally impossible to cross.

The infamous icefall on the Nepali Glacier Kumbu (Khumbu) at the foot of Everest cost the lives of many climbers who tried to go through this devilish surface. In 1951, a group of climbers led by Sir Edmund Hillary during the reconnaissance of the glacier surface, according to which subsequently laid the route of the first successful climb on Everest, crossed this forest of ice columns to 20 meters high. As one of the participants recalled, a sudden rockness and a strong trembling of the surface under his feet was very frightened by climbers, but fortunately, the collapse did not happen. One of the following expeditions, in 1969, ended tragically: 6 people were crushed under the tones of unexpectedly collapsed ice.

The depth of cracks in glaciers can exceed 40 meters, and the length is a few kilometers. Popped by snow, such dips into the darkness of the glacial body - a deadly trap for climbers, snowmobiles, or even all-terrain vehicles. Over time, due to the movement of ice, cracks can be closed. There are cases where the unequal bodies of people who failed in cracks were literally enforced into the glacier. So, in 1820, on the slope of Montblan, three guides were shot down and thrown in a spill of a snowy avalanche - only after 43 years of their bodies were discovered by the hedgehogs near the glacier's language three kilometers from the place of the tragedy.

Meltwater can significantly deepen the cracks and turn them into part of the drainage system of the glacier - glacier wells. They can reach 10 m in diameter and penetrate into the depths of hundreds of icebeller meters until the bottom.

Recently, it was recorded as a lake of melt water on the surface of the glacier in Greenland, 4 km long and a depth of 8 meters, disappeared in less than an hour and a half; At the same time, water consumption per second was greater than Niagara Falls. All this water reaches the glacial bed and serves as a lubricant accelerating ice sliding.

The speed of the glacier

Naturalist and climber Franz Joseph Hugi in 1827 made one of the first measurements of the speed of ice movement, and unexpectedly for himself. For the night, a hut was built on the glacier; When hugures returned to the glacier a year later, he, to his surprise, discovered that the hut was completely different.

The movement of glaciers is due to two different processes - slip glacier mass under their own weight lies and vyaznoplastical flow (or internal deformationWhen ice crystals under the action of stresses change the form and shift to each other).

The speed of the glacier can be from several centimeters to more than 10 kilometers per year. So, in 1719, the onset of glaciers in the Alps occurred so quickly that the inhabitants were forced to turn to the authorities to take measures and force damn Besti"(Quote) leave back. Complaints of glaciers wrote a king and Norwegian peasants, whose farms were destroyed by imagging ice. It is known that in 1684, two Norwegian peasants appeared before the local court for non-payment of rental duty. To the question why they refuse to pay, the peasants answered that their summer pastures were covered with impending ice. The authorities to make sure the glaciers really come, had to perform observations - and as a result, we now have historical data on the oscillations of these glaciers!

The fastest glacier of the land was considered a glacier Colombia on Alaska (15 kilometers per year), but just recently a glacier came out first Jacobshavn (Jakobshavn) in Greenland (see a fantastic video of his collapse, presented on one of the recent glossy conferences). Movement of this glacier can be felt standing on its surface. In 2007, this giant ice river, 6 kilometers wide and a thickness of more than 300 meters, annually producing about 35 billion tons of the highest icebergs in the world, moved at a speed of 42.5 meters a day (15.5 kilometers per year)!

Even faster, pulsating glaciers can move, whose sudden movement can reach 300 meters per day!

Ice movement speed inside the glacial stroke. Due to friction with the underlying surface, it is minimal at the glacier bed and the maximum on the surface. This was first measured after a glass of 130 meters drilled in the glacier was immersed with a steel pipe. The measurement of its curvature made it possible to build a speed profile of the ice movement.

In addition, ice speed in the center of the glacier is higher compared to its painted parts. The first transverse profile of the uneven distribution of the races of the glacier demonstrated the Swiss scientist Jean Louis Agassis in the forties of the XIX century. He left the rail at the glacier, putting them in the form of a straight line; A year later, the straight line turned into a parabola, aimed at the top of the glacier.

As a unique example illustrating the movement of the glacier, the following tragic case can be brought. On the second August 1947, the plane, following the commercial flight Buenos Aires-Santiago, disappeared without a trace 5 minutes before landing. Intensive searches have not led to anything. The mystery was revealed only half a century later: on one of the hides of the Andes, at the peak Tupungato (Tupungato, 6800 m), in the melting area of \u200b\u200bthe glacier began to pull out the fragrances of the fuselage and the body of passengers. Probably in 1947, due to poor visibility, the plane crashed into a slope, provoked avalanche and was buried under its deposits in the zone of the Glacier's accumulation. 50 years it took that the fragments passed the full cycle of the glacier substance.

God's plow

The movement of glaciers destroys rock rocks and transfers the gigantic amount of mineral material (the so-called moraine) - Starting from the breakaway rocky blocks and ending with small dust.

Thanks to the transport of sea sediments, a lot of amazing finds were made: for example, according to fragments, the main deposits of copper ore in Finland were found, the main deposits of Copper ore in Finland were found. In the USA, in the deposits of the final moraine (for which it is possible to judge the ancient spread of glaciers) were discovered by Glaciers (Indiana) and even diamonds weighing up to 21 carats (Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio). It made many geologists send the gaze to the north, to Canada, where the glacier came from. There, between the Lake of the Upper and Goodzon Bay, the rocks of Kimberlite were described - the truth, the kimberlite tubes did not manage to find a scientist.

The very idea that glaciers move, was born due to the dispute about the origin of tremendous huge erity Valunov. So geologists call large stone blocks ("wandering stones"), completely not similar to mineral composition at their surroundings ("Granite boulder on limestone for trained eyes looks as strange as the white bear on the sidewalk", loved to repeat one researcher).

One of these boulders (the famous "Thunder-Stone") became a pedestal for the copper rider in St. Petersburg. The limestone boulder is known in Sweden with a length of 850 meters, in Denmark - a giant chuckle of tertiary and chalk clay and sands of 4 kilometers long. In England, in County Huntingdonshire, 80 km north of London, an entire village was even built on one of the ershythic plates!

The "dropping" of solid indigenous rock in the Alps can be up to 15 mm per year, on Alaska - 20 mm, which is comparable to river erosion. The erosion, transporting and accumulating activities of glaciers imposes such a tremendous imprint on the Lick of Earth, that Jean-Louis Agassis called the Glaciers "God's Plow". Many planet landscapes are the result of glaciers, which are covered with about 30% of the earthly sushi.

All geologists recognize that the most complex geomorphological formations on Earth are associated with the growth, movement and degradation of glaciers on Earth. There are such erosion form of relief, as kara, similar to chairs giakanov, and Ice Circus, trogs. Numerous appear moraine relief shapes nunataki and erity boulders, esches and fluvi-inflammatory deposits. Form fjordswith high heights up to 1500 meters on Alaska and up to 1800 meters in Greenland and up to 220 kilometers long in Norway or up to 350 kilometers in Greenland ( NordVestfjord Scoresby & Sund East Cost). The stewed walls of the fjords were chosen by the Basejumpers (see Basejamping) around the world. Crazy height and bias allow you to make protracted jumps up to 20 seconds of free fall into the emptiness created by glaciers.

Dynamite and glacier thickness

The thickness of the mountain glacier can make tens or even hundreds of meters. The largest mountain glacier Eurasia - glacier Fedchenko On the Pamir (Tajikistan) - has a length of 77 km and a thickness of more than 900 m.

Absolute record holders - Greenland and Antarctica glacial shields. For the first time, the thickness of ice in Greenland was measured during the expedition of the founder of the theory of continental drift Alfred Vegener in 1929-30. For this purpose, dynamite was blown on the surface of the ice dome and the time was determined that the echo (elastic oscillations) reflected from the glacier's stone bed to return to the surface. Knowing the speed of propagation of elastic waves in ice (about 3700 m / s), you can calculate the thickness of the ice.

Today, the main methods for measuring the thickness of glaciers - seismic and radiosounding. It is determined that the maximum depth of ice in Greenland is about 3408 m, in Antarctica 4776 m ( Astrolabe SUBGLACIAL Basin.)!

Sooty Lake East

As a result of seismoradiolocation sensing, researchers made one of the last geographic discoveries XX century - the legendary Pojond Lake East.

In absolute darkness, under pressure from the four-kilometer stratum of ice, there is a water reservoir with an area of \u200b\u200b17.1 thousand km 2 (almost like Ladoga lake) and a depth of 1500 meters - this water object of scientists and called the Lake East. Its existence it is obliged to arrange the geological fault and geothermal heating, which may support the life of bacteria. Like the rest of the water facilities of the Earth, the Lake East under the action of the gravity of the moon and the sun undergoes tides and flow (1-2 cm). For this reason, and due to the difference in depths and temperatures circulates, as expected, water in the lake.

Similar priest lakes were discovered in Iceland; In Antarctica, more than 280 such lakes are already known today, many of them are connected by treated channels. But the Lake East is an isolated and largest, because of what is the greatest interest in scientists. Oxygen-rich water with a temperature -2,65 ° C is under pressure of about 350 bar.

The assumption of a very high oxygen content (up to 700-1200 mg / l) in the lake water is based on the following reasoning: the measured ice density at the border of the firn transition to the ice is about 700-750 kg / m 3. This relatively low value is due to a large number of air bubbles. Reaching the lower part of the glacial stratum (where the pressure is about 300 bar and any gases are "dissolved" into ice, forming gas hydrates) the density increases to 900-950 kg / m 3. This means that each specific volume unit, by becoming at the bottom, brings at least 15% of air from each specific unit of surface volume (Zotikov, 2006)

The air is released and dissolved in water or, possibly, accumulates under pressure as air siphons. This process took place for 15 million years; Accordingly, when the lake is formed a huge amount of air pulled out of ice. Analogs of water with such a high oxygen concentration in nature does not exist (maximum in lakes is about 14 mg / l). Therefore, the spectrum of living organisms that could carry such extreme conditions is reduced to a very narrow framework oxygenophilic; Among the famous science, there are no species that can live in such conditions.

Biologists of the whole world are extremely interested in obtaining water samples from the Lake East, as the analysis of ice cores obtained from the depth of 3667 meters as a result of drilling in the immediate vicinity of the lake East, showed the complete absence of any microorganisms, and these cores for biologists of interest Do not represent. But the technical solution of the question of autopsy and penetration into the ecosystem is still not found in more than ten million years. The point is not only that there are 50 tons of kerosene-based drilling fluid in the well, which prevents the closure of the well pressure of the ice and the face of the boraner, but also that any mechanism created by man can disrupt the biological equilibrium and contaminate the water, making it previously existing microorganisms there.

Perhaps similar aside lakes, or even the sea, exist on the satellite of Jupiter Europe and Saturn Saturn Encelades, under dozens or even hundreds of ice kilometers. It is on these hypothetical seas of astrobiology that the greatest hopes are entrusted with the search for extraterrestrial life inside the solar system and are already building plans, as with the help of nuclear energy (the so-called NASA cryota), one hundred kilometers of ice can be overcome and penetrated the water space. (So, on February 18, 2009, NASA and the ESA European Space Agency officially announced that Europe would become a point of appointment of the next historical mission to study the solar system; Arrival in orbit is scheduled for 2026.)

Glyatiizostasia

The colossal volumes of modern glacial shields (Greenland - 2.9 million km 3, Antarctica - 24.7 million km 3) for hundreds and thousands of meters pushing their mass lithosphere in a semi-liquid asthenosphere (this is the top, the least viscous part of the earthly mantle). As a result, some of the parts of Greenland are more than 300 m below sea level, and Antarctica is 2555 m ( Bentley SUBGLACIAL TRENCH)! In essence, the continental Lodge of Antarctica and Greenland are not uniform arrays, but the huge archipelago of the islands.

After the disappearance of the glacier begins the so-called glyatioisostatic lifting, caused by the simple principle of buoyancy described by Archhimensional: the left lithospheric plates slowly float to the surface. For example, part of Canada or the Scandinavian Peninsula, which were covered with a glacial shield more than 10 thousand years ago, still continue to experience an isostatic raising at a speed of up to 11 mm per year (it is known that even the Eskimos drew attention to this phenomenon and aroused about Does this land or falls the sea). It is assumed that if all the Ice of Greenland becomes, the island will rise by about 600 meters.

It is difficult to find a lively territory, more prone to glossyizostatic raising than islands. Replot Skerry Guard In the Boat Bail. Over the past two hundred years, during which the islands rose from under the water by about 9 mm per year, the Sushi Square increased here by 35%. The inhabitants of the islands gather once in 50 years and happily share new land plots.

Gravity and ice

A few years ago, when I ended the university, the question of the mass balance of Antarctica and Greenland in the conditions of global warming was ambiguous. It decreases or increases the volume of these giant glacial domes, it was very difficult to determine. There were hypotheses that, possibly, warming brings more precipitation, and as a result, the glaciers do not decrease, and grow. The data obtained using GRACE satellites launched by NASA in 2002, clarified the situation and denied these ideas.

The greater the mass, the greater the gravity. Since the surface of the globe is heterogeneous and includes giant arrays of mountains, spacious oceans, deserts, etc., the gravitational field of the Earth is also inhomogeneously. This gravitational anomaly and its change over time and measure two satellites - one follows after another and registers the relative deviation of the trajectory with a span over the objects of different masses. For example, roughly speaking, a satellite trajectory will be slightly closer to the ground over the Antarctica, and over the ocean, on the contrary, further.

Perennial observations of the spans in the same place allow for a change in gravity to judge how the mass changed. The results showed that the volume of Greenland glaciers is reduced annually by about 248 km 3, Antarctician glaciers - 152 km 3. By the way, on the cards composed using Grace satellites, not only the process of reducing the volume of glaciers, but also the aforementioned process of the glossiizostatic raising of continental plates was recorded.

For example, for the central part of Canada, the increase in mass (or gravity) was recorded due to the glossyizostatic lift, and for neighboring Greenland - a decrease, due to the intense melting of glaciers.

Planetary meaning of glaciers

According to Academician Kotlyakova, " the development of the geographic medium throughout the land is determined by the balance of heat and moisture, which is largely depends on the characteristics of the distribution and the conversion of ice. On the conversion of water from a solid state in liquid, a huge amount of energy is required. At the same time, the transformation of water into ice is accompanied by the release of energy (approximately 35% of the external heat management of the Earth)" Spring melting of ice and snow cools the land, does not allow her to quickly warm up; Ice formation in winter - heats, does not allow to cool quickly. If the ice had not, then the temperature differences on Earth would be much more, the summer heat is stronger, frost is severe.

Given the seasonal snow and ice cover, we can assume that snow and ice is occupied from 30% to 50% of the surface of the Earth. The most important value of ice for the climate of the planet is associated with its high reflectivity - 40% (for snow covering glaciers - 95%), due to which there is a significant heating of the surface in vast territories. That is, glaciers are not only invaluable funds of fresh water, but also sources of strong cooling of the Earth.

An interesting consequences of the reduction in the mass of the glare of Greenland and Antarctica were the weakening of the gravitational force attracting the huge masses of the oceanic water, and the change in the angle of inclination of the earth's axis. The first is a simple consequence of the gravity law: the less weight, the smaller the attraction; The second is that Greenland's ice shield loads the earthly ball asymmetrically, and it affects the rotation of the Earth: the change in this mass affects the adaptation of the planet to the new mass symmetry, which is why the earth's axis is shifted annually (up to 6 cm per year).

The first guess of the gravitational effect of the mass of glaciation at sea level was made by the French Mathematics Joseph Ademar (Joseph Alphonse Adhemar), 1797-1862 (he was the first scientist pointing to the connection of glacial eras and astronomical factors; after him, the theory was developed ravar (see James CROLL) and Milankovich). Ademar tried to assess the thickness of ice in Antarctica, comparing the depths of the northern ice and southern oceans. His idea was reduced to the fact that the depth of the Southern Ocean is much higher than the depth of the northern ice, due to the strong attraction of the aquatic masses by the giant gravitational field of the Icy cap Antarctica. According to its calculations, to maintain such a strong difference between the water level of the North and the South, the thickness of the Ice Cover of Antarctica was supposed to be 90 km.

Today it is clear that all these assumptions are incorrect, except that the phenomenon is still the case, but with a smaller magnitude - and its effect can be radially spread to 2000 km. The consequences of this effect are that raising the level of the world's ocean as a result of the melting of glaciers will be uneven (although now existing models are mistakenly assumed evenly distribution). As a result, in some coastal zones, the sea level will rise by 5-30% higher than the average value (the northeastern part of the quiet and southern part of the Indian Oceans), and in some - below ( South America, western, southern and eastern shores Eurasia) (Mitrovica et al., 2009).

Frozen Millennium - Revolution in Paleoclimatology

On May 24, 1954, at 4 o'clock in the morning, Danish Paleoclimatologist Willi Danshgor (Willi Dansgaard) rushed on a bike on a deserted streets on the central post office with a huge envelope, placed 35 stamps and addressed to the editorial office of scientific publication Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. In the envelope there was a manuscript of an article that he was in a hurry to publish as soon as possible. He was painted a fantastic idea, which will subsequently produce a real revolution in the sciences of the climate of the ancient eras and which he will develop all his life.

DanSgore \u200b\u200bstudies have shown that in the number of heavy isotopes in precipitation, it is possible to determine the temperature at which they were formed. And he thought: what do we actually prevent to determine the temperature of past years, simply taking and analyzing the chemical composition of the water of that time? Nothing! The next logical question: where to take ancient water? In glacier ice! Where to take ancient glacial ice? In Greenland!

This amazing idea was born a few years before the technology of depth drilling of glaciers was developed. When the technological question was resolved, an amazing thing happened: scientists opened an incredible way to travel to the past land. With each centimeter of bored ice blades of their drills began to plunge deeper and deeper into the paleoism, opening more ancient climate secrets. Each ice-extracted ice core has been a time capsule.

Deciphering a secretion written by hieroglyphs of a whole set of chemical elements and particles, disputes, pollen and bubbles of ancient air in hundreds of thousands of years, you can get invaluable information about irrevocably millennium, worlds, climates and phenomena.

Time machine with a depth of 4000 m

The age of the oldest Antarctic ice with maximum depths (more than 3,500 meters), the search for which is still going on, is estimated at about a month and a half years. Chemical analysis of these samples makes it possible to obtain an idea of \u200b\u200bthe ancient climate of the Earth, the news of which was brought and retained in the form of chemical elements, weightless snowflakes, hundreds of thousands of years ago fallen from heaven.

It looks like the history of Baron Munhausen travel in Russia. During the hunt somewhere in Siberia, there was a terrible frost, and Baron, trying to convene friends, knocked into the horn. But unsuccessfully, since the sound of frozen in the horn and rebuilt only the next morning in the sun. Approximately the same thing happens today in the cold laboratories of the world under electronic tunnel microscopes and mass spectrometers. Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica are multi-kilometer time machines going deep into centuries and millennia. The legendary well, drilled under the East station (3677 meters) remains the deepest to this day. Thanks to her, for the first time, the relationship between changes in temperature and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the last 400 thousand years was shown and an overnight anabiosis of microbes was found.

Detailed paleerajects of air temperature are built on the basis of the analysis of the isotopic composition of cores - namely, the percentage of heavy oxygen isotope 18 o (its average content in nature is about 0.2% of all oxygen atoms). Water molecules containing this oxygen isotope are heavier evaporated and condensed easier. Therefore, for example, in a water pair above the surface of the sea, the content of 18 o is lower than in sea water. Conversely, in condensation on the surfaces of snow crystals forming in the clouds, water molecules containing 18 o are more advantageous thanks to which their contents are in precipitation higher than in a water pair from which the precipitate is formed.

The lower the temperature of precipitation, the stronger the effect is manifested, that is, the greater they are 18 o. Therefore, evaluating the isotopic composition of snow or ice, it is possible to evaluate the temperature at which precipitation was formed.

And further, using known high-altitude temperature profiles, evaluate which surface air temperature hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the snowflake only fell on the Antarctic dome to turn into ice, which will be extracted in our days from a depth of several kilometers during drilling.

Every year, the falling snow gently stores on snowflakes not only information about air temperature. The number of parameters measured during laboratory analysis is now huge. In the tiny crystals of ice, signals are recorded volcanic eruptions, nuclear tests, Chernobyl disaster, anthropogenic lead content, dust storms, etc.

According to the number of tritium (3 H) and carbon-14 (14 C), you can date the age of ice. Both of these methods were elegantly demonstrated on vintage wines - years on labels perfectly correspond to dating calculated by analyzes. That's just expensive pleasure, and wines but Lime to analyzes have a lot ...

Information on the history of solar activity can be estimated quantifying nitrate content (NO 3 -) in glacier ice. Heavy molecules of nitrates are formed from NO in the upper layers of the atmosphere under the influence of ionizing cosmic radiation (protons of outbreaks in the sun, galactic radiation) as a result of the nitrogen oxide conversion chains (N 2 O) entering the atmosphere from the soil, nitrogen fertilizer and fuel combustion products (N 2 O + O → 2no). After the formation of the hydrated anion falls out with precipitation, some of which turns out to be buried in the glacier along with the next snowfall.

Beryil-10 isotopes (10 bes) make it possible to judge the intensity of cosmic rays of deep space, bombarding land, and changes in the magnetic field of our planet.

The change in the composition of the atmosphere over the past hundreds of thousands of years told small bubbles in ice, like a bottle, abandoned in the ocean history, which preserved samples of ancient air for us. They showed that over the last 400 thousand years, carbon dioxide content (CO 2) and methane (CH 4) in the atmosphere today is the highest.

Today, thousands of meters of ice cores are still stored in laboratories for future analyzes. Only in Greenland and Antarctica (i.e., not counting the mountain glaciers), about 30 km of ice cores were drilled and extracted.

Theory of glacial epochs

The beginning of modern glaciology put the theory of glacial eras appeared in the first half of the XIX century. The idea that in the past, the glaciers spread to hundreds and thousands of kilometers south, it used to seemed unthinkable. As I wrote one of the first glaciologists of Russia Peter Kropotkin (yes, that same), " at that time, faith in ice cover, reaching Europe, was considered a non-disabilities of heresy ...».

The founder and the main defender of the glacial theory was Jean Louis Agassis. In 1839, he wrote: " The development of these huge glacial shields should have caused the destruction of all organic life on the surface. European Earth, previously covered with tropical vegetation and populated by herds of elephants, hippo and giant carnivorous, turned out to be buried under the increasing ice covering the plains, lakes, sea and mountain plateau.<...> Only the silence of death remains ... Sources were dry, the rivers froze, and the rays of the sun rising over the frozen shores ... We met only the whisper of the northern winds and the rocomes of cracks opening in the middle of the Giant Ocean of Ice.»

Most of the geologists of that time, few familiar with Switzerland and the mountains, ignored the theory and were not able to even believe in the plasticity of ice, not to mention the power of the glacial thickness described by Agassis. So it lasted until the first scientific expedition to Greenland (1853-55) under the leadership of Ilyoshi Kent Kane did not report on the complete coating glaciation of the island (" ocean ice of endless sizes»).

The recognition of the theory of glacial eras had an incredible effect on the development of modern natural science. The next key issue was the reason for changing the glacial and intellenges. At the beginning of the 20th century, Serbian mathematician and engineer Milutin Milankovich developed a mathematical theory describing the dependence of climate change from changing the orbital parameters of the planet, and devoted all his time to calculations to prove the justice of its theory, namely, the determination of the cyclic change in the value of the solar radiation incoming called insolation). The land, circling in the void, is in the gravitational web of the complex interaction between all the objects of the solar system. As a result of orbital cyclic changes ( eccentricity earthly orbit precession and nation The inclination of the earth's axis) the amount of solar energy incoming to the Earth changes. Milankovich found the following cycles: 100 thousand years, 41 thousand years and 21 thousand years.

Unfortunately, the scientist himself did not survive until the day when his insight was elegant and flawlessly proven Paleoocyanographer John Imbri (John Imbrie). Imzyssa estimated the change in the temperature of the past, having studied the cores of the bottom of the Indian Ocean. The analysis was based on the following phenomena: different kinds Plankton prefer different, strictly defined temperatures. Every year, the skeletons of these organisms settle on the oceanic day. Having lifted this layered pie from the bottom and defining species, one can judge how the temperature changed. The variations of the Paleothemperature defined in this way were surprisingly coincided with Milankovich cycles.

Today it is known that the cold glacial era was replaced by warm membranes. Full glaciation of the globe (for the so-called theory " snowy coma") Presumably occurred 800-630 million years ago. The last glaciation of the Quaternary period ended 10 thousand years ago.

The Ice Domes of Antarctica and Greenland are the relics of past glaciation; Having disappeared now, they will not be able to recover. During the periods of glaciation, the continental glacial shields were covered up to 30% of the sushi of the globe. So, 150 thousand years ago, the thickness of the glacial ice over Moscow was the order of a kilometer, and over Canada is about 4 km!

The era, in which human civilization now lives and develops, is called glacical era, period of passionate. According to the calculations made on the basis of the orbital theory of Milankovich climate, the next glaciation will come in 20 thousand years. But it remains a question whether an orbital factor can overpower anthropogenic. The fact is that without natural greenhouse effect, our planet would have midh temperature -6 ° C, instead of today + 15 ° C. That is, the difference is 21 ° C. The greenhouse effect always existed, but human activity significantly enhances this effect. Now the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the highest over the last 800 thousand years - 0.038% (while the previous maxima did not exceed 0.03%).

Today, the glaciers almost all over the world (with some exceptions) are rapidly reduced; The same applies to sea ice, permafrost and snow cover. According to estimates, half the volume of mountain glaciation will disappear by 2100. About 1.5-2 billion people inhabiting various countries of Asia, Europe and America may face the fact that the rivers feed on the thawed waters of glaciers will dry off. At the same time, the rising sea level takes away their land in the countries of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in the Caribbean and Europe.

Growing Titans - Ice Catastrophes

Strengthening technological impact on the climate of the planet may increase the likelihood of natural disasters associated with glaciers. Ice bulges have a giant potential energy, the implementation of which may have monstrous consequences. Some time ago on the Internet circulated a video of the collapse of a small ice column into the water and the subsequent wave, flushing a group of tourists from the nearest cliffs. In Greenland, there were similar waves with a height of 30 meters and a length of 300 meters.

A glacier catastrophe that occurred in North Ossetia on September 20, 2002 was recorded on all Caucasian seismic meters. Glacier collapse Oscil provoked a giant glacial collance - 100 million m 3 ice, stones and water swept through a carmadon gorge at a speed of 180 km per hour. Sille's blankets crushed the loose sediments of the valley in places with a height of up to 140 meters. 125 people died.

One of the most terrible glacial catastrophes of the world has become the collapse of the northern slope of the mountain Wascharan In Peru in 1970. Earthquake of magnitude 7.7 points initiated avalanche in millions of tons of snow, ice and stones (50 million m 3). The collapse stopped only after 16 kilometers; Two cities, buried under the wreckage, turned into a fraternal grave for 20 thousand people.

Another type of hazards emanating from glaciers is a breakthrough of the boiled glacier lakes arising between the melting glacier and the ultimate morane. The height of the final Manene can reach 100 m, creating a huge potential for the formation of lakes and their subsequent breakthrough.

In 1555, the breakthrough of the lakes in Nepal covered sediments with an area of \u200b\u200babout 450 km 2, and in places the thickness of these deposits reached 60 m (height of the 20-storey house)! In 1941, the intensive melting of the glaciers of Peru contributed to the growth of the lunged lakes. A breakthrough one of them ruined 6,000 people. In 1963, as a result of the movement of the pulsating glacier, a lake of a depth of 80 meters appeared on the Pamir. When the icy jumper was broken, the destructive flow of water and the subsequent ruble destroyed the power plant and many houses rushed along the valley.

The most monstrous breakthrough of the Ice Lake occurred through goodzons of the Strait in sea Labrador about 12,900 years ago. Breakthrough lake Agassis, in the area that exceeded Caspian, caused abnormally fast (over 10 years) climate of the climate of the North Atlantic (5 ° C in England), known as Early DRIAS (See youunger Dryas) and detected when analyzing Ice Corens of Greenland. A huge amount of fresh water broke thermohalin circulation Atlantic OceanThat blocked the transfer of heat to the flow of low latitudes. Today, such a jump-shaking process fear due to global warming, the desalination of the water of the North Atlantic.

Nowadays, due to the accelerable melting of the glaciers of the world, the size of the pitted lakes is increasing and, accordingly, the risk of their breakthrough increases.

In the only of the Himalayas, 95% of the glaciers of which are rapidly melting, potentially dangerous lakes are about 340. In 1994, 10 million cubic meters of water in Bhutan, watered from one of these lakes, were made at a huge speed of 80 kilometers, killing 21 people.

According to forecasts, the breakthrough of the glacial lakes can become an annual disaster. Millions of people in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet not only face the inevitable issue of reducing water resources due to the disappearance of glaciers, but also will be faced to face with the deadly danger of the lake breakthrough. Hydroelectric power plants, villages, infrastructure can be destroyed in an instant of terrible villages.

Another kind of glacial catastrophe - lahara arising from the eruptions of volcanoes covered with ice caps. Ice and lava meetings gigantic volcanogenic mud villages, typical of the country "Fire and Ice" of Iceland, for Kamchatka, Alaska and even on Elbrus. Lahara can reach monstrous sizes, being the largest among all types of the villages: their length can reach 300 km, and the volume is 500 million m 3.

On the night of November 13, 1985, the inhabitants of the Columbian city Armero. (Armero) woke up from crazy noise: through their city, washing off all houses and structures on their way, a volcanic village swept - his booming alien challenged 30 thousand people. Another tragic case occurred the fateful Christmas Evening of 1953 in New Zealand - the breakthrough of the lake from the Olyonnell Crater Volcano provoked Lahar, which washed away the railway bridge literally before the train. Locomotive and five cars with 151 passenger dived and forever disappeared in a rapid flow.

In addition, volcanoes can simply destroy the glaciers - for example, the monstrous eruption of the North American volcano Saint Helens (Saint Helens) demolished 400 meters of the height of the mountain along with 70% of the volume of glaciers.

Ice people

The harsh conditions in which we have to work with glaciologists, are one of the most difficult, with which modern scientists are only faced. B. aboutthe more part of field observations implies work in cold hard-to-reach and remote parts of the globe, with rigid solar radiation and insufficient oxygen. In addition, glaciology often combines climbing with science, thus making a profession deadly.

Frostime is familiar to many glaciologists, because of what, for example, at the former professor of my institute amputated fingers on hand and leg. Even in a comfortable laboratory, the temperature may drop to -50 ° C. In the polar areas, all-terrain vehicles sometimes fall into 30-40 meter cracks, the most severe blizzards often make high-altitude workdays of researchers with a real hell and carry not one year annually. This is a work for strong and hardy people, sincerely devoted to their work and the endless beauty of the mountains and poles.

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Vatnajökudvl Vatnajökull is the largest ice hat in Iceland, covering 8% of the territory of the island. The Watnayokud glacier is located in the southwest of Iceland and is a popular place for hiking excursions in glaciers and ice caves.

Facts about the glacier Vatnajökull Vatnajökull

• Surface: 8 100 km2
• Medium thickness: 400 - 600 m
• Maximum thickness: 1000 m
• Height: 1400 - 1800 m
• Highest Peak: 2,200 m (Hvannadalshnjúkur)

Information about the glacier Vatnajökull Vatnajökull

The Watnaiokully glacier is located on the territory of the Large National Park of Vatthenokudl, which covers the former National Parks of Skaftooth, in the southwest, and Yokulsargloufour, in the north. Highest point Watnaiokoled glacier is a hwannadalshnyukur, which lies on the top of the stratovulkan, known as Öræfajökull.

Under the glacier there are some of the most active volcanoes in the country, the most noticeable of which are grimsawn, Öræfajökull and Bárðabunga. Volcanic activity in the region occurred during the centuries, and many geologists believe that it will continue in the near future. If their calculations are correct, it means a significant volcanic activity For Vatnayokuldle over the next half a century.

The glacier boasts more than 30 languages \u200b\u200bof the glacier, which leak out of ice hats, but remain limited on the sides of the valley. Main languages \u200b\u200bGlaciers Vatnayokudvl: Dingudezhokul in the north, Breadrimkurkhokul and Schyarrajokul in the south. In the West, you can find Languages \u200b\u200bSíðujökull, Skaftárjökull and Tungnaárjökull.

Glaciers are in constant motion under the weight of the ice. Every year, new ice caves appear due to melting and movement of ice, which soon disappear.

Ice caves in Vatnayokud

Everyone who has seen photos of ice caves knows that it is worth seeing. Since the Vatnayokud is the biggest glacier in Europe, it is one of best placesTo see this natural miracle - ice caves. Every year, visitors get the opportunity to see a natural ice cave in the Vatnayokud National Park.

Ice caves are formed only in winter, when the glacial rivers disappear and water freezes. Their location, forms and dimensions are constantly changing, which makes them a characteristic and unique spectacle.

If you plan to experience luck and see the ice cave in Iceland, please do it under professional guidance - weather and circumstances can represent a big risk!