TASS, September 27. Scientists of the Lomonosov Moscow State University's Arctic scientific center made a comprehensive geodetic survey of the IGAN glacier surface. It is the biggest glacier in the Polar Urals. The obtained data will be used to forecast climate-affected changes in the glacier, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region's governmental press service said.

"By the end of this year, in addition to analyzing the unique data from the glacier's spring drilling, we will process the data from geodetic images to make a digital model of the IGAN glacier's surface for every five years of this observation. By doing so, we will forecast its future climate-affected changes," the press service quoted the center's leading expert Alexander Shein as saying.

The glacier's ice deposits have been shrinking, Mikhail Ivanov of the University's Geography Department said. However, the changes indicate they come into a balance with the modern climate. They get adjusted and shrink, but they do continue existing.

The IGAN glacier is the biggest glacier in the Polar Urals. Glaciologist Leonid Dolgushin discovered it in 1953. The glacier was given the name IGAN - it is an acronym for the USSR Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geography.