The Third Pole: Glaciers of Central Asia

The high mountain region of Asia is known as the “Third Pole” due to its vast reserves of meltwater, second only to the North and South Poles. In Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are home to some of the stable or even growing glaciers outside the polar regions. However, between the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of new monitoring networks, this region suffered from a severe lack of observational data for decades.

International Collaboration to Address Data Shortage

Researchers from Professor Francesca Pellicciotti’s group at the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria are contributing to an international effort to tackle this shortage. They collaborated with local researchers in Tajikistan and colleagues in Switzerland, Austria, and France to establish their own climate station in a reference basin and model changes in the glaciers over more than two decades. Their first joint publications provided evidence that the glacier reached a tipping point in 2018.

With limited data and strong future projections in the region, researchers cannot yet confirm whether this is indeed the “point of no return” for the glaciers in the Pamirs. The study focuses on a specific basin and spans from 1999 to 2023, marking the first of its kind in this context.

Understanding the Peculiar Phenomenon

Climate change has significantly impacted glaciers worldwide, while the glaciers in the Pamir and Karakoram Mountains in Central Asia have been surprisingly stable, possibly even increasing. This unexpected behavior of the glaciers has been termed the “Pamir-Karakoram Anomaly.”

The team chose to set up their observational site on the Kyzylsu Glacier in northwestern Pamir, in central Tajikistan. This climate station is located at just under 3,400 meters above sea level in a country where half of the land rises above 3,000 meters.

Challenges and Field Data

Since establishing their monitoring network in the Kyzylsu Basin in 2021, the team has collected extensive data on snowfall and water resources in the area. Using these observations and climate reanalysis data, they were able to simulate the glacier’s behavior from 1999 to 2023.

The model showed a significant turning point in 2018, where reduced snowfall altered the glacier’s behavior and affected its health. Ice melt increased to compensate for about a third of the water resources lost from decreased precipitation.

Fieldwork and Local Collaboration

Since the collaboration began in 2021, researchers have visited Tajikistan seven times, conducting field trips every summer with local research institutes in Dushanbe. They aim to update and automate the monitoring networks to ensure their sustainability for decades to come.

The team’s work relies on close cooperation with local residents, who provide support to ensure that measurements are not disrupted. The team shares data with the community and works in the wilderness among local residents, their children, and animals.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this research is a first step towards a better understanding of glacier behavior in Central Asia. International collaboration and intensive monitoring are essential to comprehend this peculiar phenomenon and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change and its effects on glaciers.