Gubanov, Afanasy (2025): Caucasus glaciers debris cover inventory for 2000 and 2020 [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987462
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Published: 2025-11-18 • DOI registered: 2025-12-17
Abstract:
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.
Keyword(s):
References:
Herreid, Sam; Pellicciotti, Francesca (2020): The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. Nature Geoscience, 13(9), 621-627, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0
Scherler, Dirk; Wulf, Hendrik; Gorelick, Noel (2018): Global Assessment of Supraglacial Debris-Cover Extents. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(21), https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080158
Tielidze, Levan; Iacob, George; Holobâcă, Iulian Horia (2024): Mapping of Supra-Glacial Debris Cover in the Greater Caucasus: A Semi-Automated Multi-Sensor Approach. Geosciences, 14(7), 178, https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14070178
Tielidze, Levan; Nosenko, Gennady A; Khromova, Tatiana E; Paul, Frank (2022): Strong acceleration of glacier area loss in the Greater Caucasus between 2000 and 2020. The Cryosphere, 16(2), 489-504, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-489-2022
Tielidze, Levan; Wheate, Roger D (2018): The Greater Caucasus Glacier Inventory (Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan). The Cryosphere, 12(1), 81-94, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-81-2018
Funding:
Russian Science Foundation, grant/award no. 25-77-10049: Outburst hazard assessment of mountain glacial lakes of the Central Caucasus under climate change using modelling and machine learning methods
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 42.602745 * Median Longitude: 43.887301 * South-bound Latitude: 41.205050 * West-bound Longitude: 39.877891 * North-bound Latitude: 44.000440 * East-bound Longitude: 47.896710
Event(s):
Comment:
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).
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File content | Content | Gubanov, Afanasy | |||
| 2 | Processing software | PS | Gubanov, Afanasy | |||
| 3 | Date of determination | Date deter | Gubanov, Afanasy | start | ||
| 4 | Date of determination | Date deter | Gubanov, Afanasy | end | ||
| 5 | Binary Object | Binary | Gubanov, Afanasy | ArcMap software | ||
| 6 | Binary Object (File Size) | Binary (Size) | Bytes | Gubanov, Afanasy | ArcMap software |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Basic curation (CurationLevelB)
Size:
10 data points
Data
All files referred to in data matrix can be downloaded in one go as ZIP or TAR. Be careful: This download can be very large! To protect our systems from misuse, we require to sign up for an user account before downloading.
| 1 Content | 2 PS | 3 Date deter (start) | 4 Date deter (end) | 5 Binary | 6 Binary (Size) [Bytes] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debris contours 2000 | ArcMap 10.6 | 2000-07-28 | 2004-09-22 | Cauc_Deb_2000.rar | 885 kBytes |
| Debris contours 2020 | ArcMap 10.6 | 2020-07-27 | 2020-09-29 | Cauc_Deb_2020.rar | 1.9 MBytes |