1982 expedition to Tartu Ülikool 350 (07)

The Fedchenko Glacier (russian: Ледник Федченко; tg, Пиряхи Федченко) is a large

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

in the

Yazgulem Range Yazgulem Range ( tg, Пули Язгулем) is a mountain range of the western Pamir Mountains. It is located in Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province stretches for about 170 km between the Yazgulyam River and the Bartang River in ...

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...

, of north-central

Gorno-Badakhshan Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,, abbr. / is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two percen ...

province,

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. The glacier is long and narrow, currently extending for and covering over . It is the longest glacier in the world outside of the

polar region The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by flo ...

s.In the Karakoram Mountains, the

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kara ...

is 76 km long, the

Biafo Glacier The Biafo Glacier ( ur, ) is a -long glacier situated in the Karakoram mountain range in Shigar district, Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan. Geography Biafo Glacier meets the -long Hispar Glacier at an altitude of at Hispar La to create the wor ...

is 67 km long, and the Baltoro is 63 km long. The Bruggen or Pio XI Glacier in southern Chile is 66 km long. Kyrgyzstan's South Inylchek (Enylchek) Glacier is 60.5 km in length. Measurements are from recent imagery, generally with Russian 1:200,000 scale topographic mapping for reference as well as the 1990 ''Orographic Sketch Map: Karakoram: Sheets 1 and 2'', Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Zurich. The maximum thickness of the glacier is , and the volume of the Fedchenko and its dozens of tributaries is estimated at —about a third the volume of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

Path and location

The glacier follows a generally northward path to the east of the Garmo Peak. The glacier begins at an elevation of above sea level, and eventually melts and empties into the Balandkiik River near the border with

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

at an elevation of . Its waters eventually feed down the Muksu, Surkhob, Vakhsh, and

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

rivers into the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazak ...

. To the west is the

Academy of Sciences Range Academy of Sciences Range (russian: Хребет Академии Наук, ''Khrebet Akademiy Nauk;'' tg, Qatorkuhi Akademiyai Fanho) is a mountain range in the Western Pamirs of Tajikistan. It is stretched in a north-south direction and conside ...

, Mount Garmo, Ismoil Somoni Peak, Peak Korzhenevskaya and the headwaters of the

Vanj River The Vanj ( tg, Ванҷ, russian: Ванч ''Vanch'') is a river in east Tajikistan. It is a right tributary of the Panj in Vanj District, north-western Gorno-Badakhshan. The river is long and has a basin area of .Yazgulyam River The Yazghulom ( tg, Язғулом ''Yazghulom'') is a river in Vanj district, western Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It is a right tributary of the Panj (upper Oxus). The river is long and has a basin area of .Independence Peak Independence Peak or Qullai Istiqlol ( tg, Қуллаи Истиқлол), at , is the seventh-highest peak in the Pamir Mountains,

and to the east Gorbunov Peak (6,025 meters). To the north is Altyn Mazar.

Discovery

The glacier was discovered in 1878, and is named after Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n explorer (but not discoverer of the glacier). The Fedchenko was not fully explored until 1928 by a German-Soviet expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers. Between 1910 and 1913 the glacier expanded and moved forward by , blocking up the Balyandlik River the following year. It continued to recede between 1928 and 1960, stopping its inflows such as the Kosinenko, Ulugbeck, Alert and several others.

Notes

References

"Fedchenko Glacier"

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

online edition. Retrieved 8 December 2005.
"The First National Communication of the Republic of Tajikistan under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Repeblic of Tajikistan Ministry for Nature Protection. Dushanbe: 2002.
"Tajikistan 2002: Vital Maps and Graphics on Climate Change"
. Tajikistan Met Service. Retrieved 18 August 2005.

U.S.

Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is org ...

. Published by the Federal Research Division of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

. Online version retrieved 8 December 2005.

External links

Map of glaciation in the Pamir Mountains

Google Maps satellite photo of Fedchenco Glacier
(solid white line running approximately vertically in center of image)
Current weather and 5-day forecast
from CNN {{Coord, 38.767, N, 72.283, E, display=title, type:glacier_source:dewiki Glaciers of Tajikistan Pamir Mountains

Path and location

Discovery

See also

Notes

References

External links