MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. The area of glaciers in the northern part of the Central Range and on the Kronotsky Peninsula of Kamchatka has decreased by 35.6% since 1950, the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geography told TASS.

"Just like most glaciers on the globe, glaciers in Kamchatka have significantly decreased over the last decades: in the northern part of the Central Range and on the Kronotsky Peninsula, their area has decreased by 35.6% since 1950. Thus, the average rate of glacier reduction in the northern part of the Central Range in the period from 2002 to 2016-2017 increased by about 4.3 times compared to the period 1950-2002, while the rate of glacier reduction on the Kronotsky Peninsula did not really change at the beginning of the 21st century," the message reads.

In the northern part of the Central Range, the greatest reduction is observed in small glaciers with an area of less than 0.1 square kilometers and in glaciers of the southeastern and southern parts.

The main losses of the glaciated area of this region occurred in the altitude belt of 1,200-1,800 meters: 65.5 square kilometers (25.2%) for the period from 2002 to 2016-2017. On the Kronotsky Peninsula, the greatest reduction in the area of glaciation for 2000-2019 occurred at altitudes less than 500 meters (55.1%) and 500 - 700 meters (27.9%).

In addition, a weak increase in air temperature of up to 0.3 degrees Celsius per 10 years in the summer season and a decrease in precipitation in the winter season in the northern and northwestern part of Kamchatka (on average 5% - 10% per 10 years) were detected based on data from meteorological stations. However, a significant increase of the radiation balance in May-September amid the tendency for decreasing cloudiness was revealed, mainly due to the cloudiness of the lower tier. All this indicates the increased frequency of occurrence of anticyclones over the region in the warm half of the year, which was probably the cause of the positive anomaly of the radiation balance. The increase in the frequency of recurrence of anticyclones is probably a consequence of the so-called "expansion of the tropics," the scientists note.

The obtained values of changes in climatic parameters were also used to estimate the reduction in the size of the modeled glacier of Kamchatka. The Oerlemans model estimates of the glacier's shrinkage amounted to -22% over 20 years, which is consistent with observational data from the northern part of the Central Range.