Caucasus glaciers debris cover inventory for 2000 and 2020

DOI

The current stage of glaciation degradation is also manifested in the intensification of the input of lithogenic material to the glacier surface. Surface deposits significantly affect the ablation of glacier ice, which directly affects the glacier runoff and the glacier mass balance. For the entire Greater Caucasus, the moraine boundaries were determined using semi-automated methods [Scherler et al., 2018; Herreid & Pellicciotti, 2020; Tielidze et al., 2024, etc.]. This database presents the results of manual interpretation of the moraine cover boundaries as of 2000 (according to Landsat-7 data) and 2020 (Sentinel-2). The buffer method was used to assess the accuracy of determining the area of moraine-covered ice. As a result, from 2000 to 2020, the number of glaciers with noticeable moraine cover increased from 763 (34% of the number of glaciers in the Caucasus) to 1274 (58%), and their area - from 132.5 ± 8.6 km² (8-9% of the glacier area) to 163.9 ± 5.9 km² (14-15%). Due to the active degradation of glaciation, the activity of the lithogenic material input from the rocky surroundings of glaciers increased. The gradual rise of the kinematic boundary of the supply of glaciers in the Caucasus, characteristic of the modern evolutionary stage, leads to a characteristic tendency: over time, the melting of the first portions of moraine material along the flow line onto the daytime surface of the glacier is recorded higher and higher upstream, which is what we see when comparing 2000 and 2020 debris. The projection of the moraine cover during the retreat of glaciers often leads to the damming of the periglacial area and the formation of dangerous lakes.

Shapefile - contours of debris cover on glaciers (2000 based on RGI-7 catalogue for Caucasus, 2020 - on (Tielidze et al., 2018; Tielidze et al. 2022)) in WGS 1984 UTM 38N coordinate system. Attribute table contains: author ID, related-glaciers № and ID (RGI, WGI, other ID's), area as in year 2000 and 2020, river basin, Caucasus section (North or South, West-Central-East).

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987462
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080158
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14070178
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-489-2022
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-81-2018
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.987462
Provenance
Creator Gubanov, Afanasy ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2025
Funding Reference Russian Science Foundation https://doi.org/10.13039/501100006769 Crossref Funder ID 25-77-10049 Outburst hazard assessment of mountain glacial lakes of the Central Caucasus under climate change using modelling and machine learning methods
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 10 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (39.878W, 41.205S, 47.897E, 44.000N); Greater Caucasus