Retreat of mountain glaciers of northern Eurasia since the Little Ice Age maximum

Abstract

Analysis of aerial photographs of about 1000 glaciers located in the mountain ranges of the former Soviet Union - Caucasus, Polar Urals, Pamir-Alay, Tien Shan, Altay, Kodar, Cherskiy range, Suntar-Khayata, Koryakskoye Nagorye, Kamchatka - shows that variations in the magnitude of glacier retreat since the Little Ice Age maximum are significant and probably connected to climatic continentality. On average, the scale of glacier shrinkage is much smaller in continental Siberia than in central Asia and along the Pacific margins.