Those who know me; you know how much I hated nine to five jobs. Really hated. Well, after travelling a year I am back to the office, but this time, this ain't the normal nine to five. In September 2009 I started studying for a masters degree in Geography concentrating on polar and alpine studies. It has been a blast - but hard work , and its all coming to an end. But not yet. I am currently preparing for a big field season in glaciers of Central Tien Shan. Project Tien Shan - Golubina Glacier is about putting the hard work done in the office to practise and it is a chance for me to do what I always wanted to do most, explore and learn about mountainous regions. I will be investigating the ever so important dust, its effects on snow/ ice albedo, and the tiny bacterias that attach themselves to the dust particles. I will be spending 21-23 days in Golubina glacier collecting very important field data for my masters thesis; for example, I will be collecting samples, taking photographs, measuring dissolved oxygen and with little bit luck, a good deal of mountaineering too.
My journey to Central Tien Shan starts on 27th May 2010 when I will fly from the sunny Sheffield to even more sunnier Helsinki (I hope!!), where I will be spending couple days visiting my family and friends, but also, climbing a few rocks in Olhava national park. On 2nd or 3rd of June, I will continue my journey with the TranSiberian Express with a quick stop over in Moscow. Three days later, on my arrival to Bishkek, I will be meeting my good friend Dmitry Pavlenko and some colleagues from the Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences. I also hope to meet American fulbright scholar Ann Piersall, who has done a great deal of work in Kyrgyzstan since November 2009. Check out her excellent web page: http://tienshanglaciers.blogspot.com/2009/05/about-ann.html
About my research
Northern Tien Shan is located in an arid and semi-arid region of central Asia, at the source region for Asian dust. Every spring, enormous amounts of dust particles are deposited on glacial surfaces after dust storms in the ‘drying’ Caspian and Aral Seas and in the deserts and arid regions of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan (Prospero et al., 2002). The high glacial dust input in northern Tien Shan can be explained by the synergetic action of many factors involving the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. There are three basic conditions to consider: (1) the increased aridity on the continents due to changes in soil moisture, vegetation cover and retreat of glaciers (Prospero et al., 2002); (2) the more vigorous atmospheric circulation enhanced by the steeper southern temperature gradient generated by the northward extension of sea ice and (3) the reduction in the intensity of the hydrological cycle leading to a decrease in precipitation and consequently more efficient transport of dust (e.g. Joussaume 1989).
In Chinese Tien Shan observations show large amounts of surface dust on the ice surface ranging from 86 to 1113 g m¯² (dry weight), which is within the normal range for Asian glaciers, but significantly greater than those on glaciers in other regions such as the Arctic (Takeuchi & Li, 2008; Takeuchi & Koshima, 2004). A significant part of the surface dust consists of humic material, being the residue of bacterial decomposition of organic matter (Takeuchi, 2002; Fujita, 2007). This suggests that the surface dust is comprised not only of deposits of wind-blown desert, but is a product of microbial activity on glacier itself. Such biogenic surface dust is known as cryoconite, and it enhances the melt rate of the glacier significantly, because the darkening of the ice leads to reduction in surface albedo and, thus, greater absorption of the Sun’s radiation (e.g. Takeuchi et al., 2002).
Therefore, understanding the persistence of the dust is critical to understanding the fate of these glaciers as they increasingly lose their reflective snow cover – not least because the mass balance of Asian glaciers is a vital source of water for rivers and lakes that provide fresh water for large population in this threatened area. The tight coupling between physical and biological processes within cryoconite ecosystems upon a mountain glacier in Northern Tien Shan therefore forms the basis of this exciting project. Specifically, I will consider:
- Controls upon the distribution of cryoconite across the Northern Tien Shan Glaciers;
- How the cryoconite habitats vary (size, type, location) across the ice cap in accordance withdifferent radiation conditions (e.g. aspect, snow cover), the crystal/ optical properties of the ice and biological activity;
- How these habitats enhance entrapment of other debris particles such as desert dust and anthropogenic pollution (black carbon), and then how this process modifies the albedo of the ice surface.
- Fujita, K. (2007) Effect of dust event timing on glacier runoff: sensitivity analysis for a Tibetan glacier. Hydrol. Process., 21 (21), 2892 - 2896.
- Joussaume, S. (1989) Desert dust and climate: an investigation using an atmospheric general circulation model. In: Leinen M, Sarnthein M (eds) Paleoclimatology and paleometeorology: moden and past patterns of global atmospheric transport. NATO Workshop, PP 253-263.
- Prospero, J., Ginoux, P., Torres, O., Nicholson, S. and Gill, T. (2002) Global sources of atmospheric soil dusts. 40, 1, Reviews of Geophysics 40,1 February 2002.
- Takeuchi, N., and Li, Z. (2008) Characteristics of surface dust on Urumqi Glacier No. 1 in the Tien Shan Mountains, China. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 40 (4), 744 - 750.
- Takeuchi, N. (2002) Optical characteristics of cryoconite (surface dust) on glaciers: the relationship between light absorbency and the property of organic matter contained in the cryoconite. Annals of Glaciology, 34, 409 - 414.
- Takeuchi, N., and Koshima, S. (2004) A snow algal community on a Patagonian glacier, Tyndall glacier in the Southern Patagonia Icefield. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 36 (1), 91 -98.
Language Skills
A personal goal of mine is to develop a working proficiency of the Russian language. I am currently studying Russian language for 1-2 hours a day in hopes that by June I will be able to engage in conversations with local people, friends and fellow scientists.
Mountaineering
From a personal level I am excited by the mountaineering possibilities that exist in Ala Archa National Park in Kyrgyzstan
A very good introduction to the Ala Archa region is found on Kyrgyz Alpine Fund web page: http://www.alpinefund.org/Kyrgyz%20Mountain%20Info.html.
Many thanks for Dr. Andy Hodson for supervision and constant support, Dmitry Pavlenko (Kyrgyzstan) for organisation, planning and support whilst in Kyrgyzstan, all friends and colleagues at the University of Sheffield and lastly to Sean James for being there for me.
Funding has been applied from Royal Geographical Society and University of Sheffield but has not yet been confirmed.
A very good introduction to the Ala Archa region is found on Kyrgyz Alpine Fund web page: http://www.alpinefund.org/Kyrgyz%20Mountain%20Info.html.
Many thanks for Dr. Andy Hodson for supervision and constant support, Dmitry Pavlenko (Kyrgyzstan) for organisation, planning and support whilst in Kyrgyzstan, all friends and colleagues at the University of Sheffield and lastly to Sean James for being there for me.
Funding has been applied from Royal Geographical Society and University of Sheffield but has not yet been confirmed.
Few very interesting web pages to check:
- Ann Piersall - Fulbright scholar currently in Kyrgyzstan http://tienshanglaciers.blogspot.com/2009/05/about-ann.html
- Dmitry Pavlenko - Mountain guide and climber in Kyrgyzstan http://www.singleclimb.com/content/view/306/57/
- Alpine Fund in Kyrgyzstan http://www.alpinefund.org/Kyrgyz%20Climbing%20Overview.html
- Nozomu Takeuchi - Researcher in Japan http://www-es.s.chiba-u.ac.jp/~takeuchi/
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