COORDINATES: 43° 03' N / 77° 05' E
Photo taken by K.G. Makarevich in August 1970.
COORDINATES: 43° 03' N / 77° 05' E
Photo taken by K.G. Makarevich in August 1970.
The valley-type glacier in the Zailiyskiy Alatau Range of the Kazakh Tien Shan is also called Tuyuksu Glacier. It extends from 4,220 to 3,400 m a.s.l and in 1995 it had a surface area of 2.87 km2 (including debris-covered ice) with the exposure being to the N. Annual mean air temperature at the equilibrium line of the glacier (around 3,800 m a.s.l.) is -6 to -7 °C and the glacier is considered to be cold. Continuous permafrost surrounds the glacier. Average annual precipitation as measured with 19 precipitation gauges is about 1,000 mm in the glacier belt. Characteristic features of the highly continental climatic conditions are stable winter anticyclones, low air temperatures, a summer peak of precipitation (ca. 60% of annual sum) and the co-existence of accumulation and ablation processes during the warm season. Regime and intensity of summer precipitation (mixed, mainly snow) play the key role for the mass balance formation.
Mass balance conditions were near the average in 1993/94. The glacier lost 0.44 m water equivalent. In 1994/95 total accumulation was near its norm again (a negative anomaly in winter was compensated by a positive one in summer), but summer was too warm and the melting season lasted till late September. This resulted in a mass loss of 0.59 m water equivalent. Thus, the mass gain from 1992/93 was completely lost again during the two reported years.
