
From ice to microorganisms and humans: Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of climate change impacts on the Third Pole
About UsToward an interdisciplinary understanding of climate change impacts on the Third Pole
Climate-induced changes are dramatic in the high mountains of Asia, but we understand them much less than those in the Arctic or Antarctic. This is despite the importance of these mountains for water supply for societal and environmental use. Supplying water to an otherwise arid region, the Pamir is one of the most important mountain water towers globally. However, the status of the cryosphere in the Pamir region is particularly uncertain due to the lack of measurements since the collapse of the Soviet Union and due to the unique diversity of icy landforms it contains, leading to complex streamflow regimes and geohazards.
The SPI Flagship Programme PAMIR is an interdisciplinary undertaking to characterize the current state of the Pamir cryosphere to an unprecedented degree, as well as its impacts on ecosystems, hazards and water resources. We will: i) extract an ice core to unlock a climate archive of the past millennium; ii) assess the distribution and state of permafrost; iii) measure the mass balance and accumulation of glaciers at a regional level; iv) establish the link between microbial adaptation and a rapidly changing cryosphere; v) disentangle regional cryospheric hazards by understanding glaciological and permafrost drivers; and finally: vi) unravel the lost history of Pamir cryospheric research. Together, these ambitious scientific objectives will generate important historic and contemporary understanding of this key headwater region, enabling a better understanding of the future of this water tower.
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International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation in Dushanbe 29-31 May 2025
The high-level International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation (https://dushanbeicgp2025.com/) took place from 29 to 31 May 2025 in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan, to highlight the vital role of glaciers in maintaining global…
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PAMIR team is getting ready for 2025 fieldwork
Members of the PAMIR team met for a training workshop at the University of Bern and on Breithornplateau to prepare the 2025 field season. Participants learned about operation and maintanace of…
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Adventure of Science 2025
The PAMIR consortium is happy to support ‘Adventure of Science: Women and Glaciers in Central Asia’. In 2025, like in previous years, an all-female team of instructors, is organizing a 10-day…
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