Annual visit to Kyzylsu

Members of research cluster 3, ‘Glaciers, Snow and Hydrology’, successfully completed their second visit to Kyzylsu since the start of PAMIR. This time, the joint Tajik-Swiss expedition team also included a professional photographer, Jason Klimatsas, who documented the scientific work and captured unique shots of Tajikistan’s glaciated landscapes.

The weather provided very good working conditions and the group was able to revisit many of the previously installed meteorological and hydrological stations as well as re-drill mass balance stakes in the glacier ablation area. Supraglacial debris properties were surveyed with numerous thickness measurements, and temporary weather stations were installed to later derive values of aerodynamic roughness.

A parallel expedition took place as part of a UNESCO project coordinated by members of cluster 5 “Cryospheric Hazards”, aiming at starting the monitoring of supraglacial lakes on the neighboring Baralmos glacier, using lake level loggers, ground temperature sensors and time-lapse cameras.