Project title: Modelling climate change, glacier dynamics and runoff in the Caucasus

Funding organization: INTAS

Start and end dates: 2007-2008

Principal investigator: Ramin Gobejishvili

Key personnel: Ramin Gobejishvili, Nino Lomidze, Davit Svanadze, Aleksandre Javakhishvili

Project Summary: The study of glaciers in the world is of great importance. For the full-fledged production of studies, it is of the utmost importance is to carry out complex observations during many years. Since 1989, detailed investigations of glaciers have not been carried out in Georgia.
The novelty of the research is the fact that the automatic meteorological station will be used for the first time in Georgia, which will record eleven different climate parameters from the surface of the glacier every 15 minutes. A hydrological station will be set up in front of the glacier tongue to monitor the river runoff. Geoinformation systems, aerospace and aerial photo materials will also be used in the research. The main goal of the research is to restore and continue stationary observations on the glaciers of Georgia, as well as to restore the connection with the World Glaciological Monitoring Center and regularly send the obtained information to them. To establish connections with foreign colleagues and conduct joint research of the Caucasus glaciers.

Achieved results: The 1:200 000; 1:100 000; 1:50 000; 1:25 000 scale geo-informational system of glaciers and other geographical components of the Zofkhito River basin was created as a model; According to the above-mentioned scales, relief models of the Zofkhito River basin were created, with the help of which both the retreat of the glacier in the last 180 years, as well as its area and the location of the tongue for the Quaternary glaciations (late Pleistocene, Holocene) were specified; The glacier tongues of the basin were mapped, this information was mapped onto a digital model of the basin. The mentioned information can be used to compare the retreat of glacier tongues; A geographic database was created, which will become a model for creating geographic, geomorphological or glaciological models for different river basins of Georgia; On the digital model of the Zofkhito river basin, all important geographic objects and events were marked, the paleogeographical and paleogeomorphological situation was restored, and relevant maps were created in geoinformation systems; Immediately after the start of ablation (melting of snow on the surface of the glacier), the snow that fell during the winter was planned on the surface of the glacier (every 50 meters at an altitude of 2500-3350 m a.s.l.), from the tongue to the Firni basin; During the summer of 2008, a hydrological post was organized on the Zofkhito river (limnigraph installation) and river discharges were calculated.