Home – Home – Jornals – Earth’s Cryosphere 2023 number 3

The elaborated method of regional calculation of the hydrological regime of glaciation includes determination of long-term changes in glacial runoff and glacial feeding in river basins. For the Rhone River basin, monitoring data on glaciation parameters over the period of 1971-2016 and long-term data on precipitation and air temperature at weather stations of Switzerland were used for hydrological and glaciological calculations. The results of linear extrapolation of spatiotemporal changes in the altitude-area characteristics of the classified groups of glaciers proved to be sufficient for calculating the hydrological regime of glaciation. An adequate description of seasonal and long-term glacial feeding of rivers should take into account spatiotemporal variations in the ablation of glaciers depending on the five types of active glacier surface and their altitude-area characteristics. Satisfactory absolute and relative estimates of differences between the measured runoff and the amount of precipitation, evaporation, and glacial feeding in the upper Rhone River in 1971-2010 (Porte du Scex gauging station), as well as between the measured and calculated annual precipitation in the Rhone River basin for 1971-2016, were obtained.