ah, victor, good have you out here. thanks for having us in your office has it we're. it's hard to believe that these glaciers will disappear on day. how much time do we actually have mac valuables? then you would to sunday they will disappear. but they'll be here for our generation in the next few generations. the glaciers here in the caucasus follow certain cycles, but one cycle last about 1800 years when it was here in the 1st century b, c. the glaciers were at that peak and then like of course, then they began to shrink and almost disappeared around the 5th century 80. but we also, we refer to the period between that time and the 10th century as the r. he is breaking place he ation or mercy era research near or he is showed that the peoples of the north caucasus freely moved south because there was no ice on the mountain path, is that you could easily cross to the other side. it will cycle will repeat and we can extrapolate from the data we have to predict the next period. usually the last

big, the so called minor ice age was between the 17th and 19th century seat of the letter about about 600 years to that in about 4 centuries. the won't be any place he has in the caucuses. unfortunately, a couple of just a few isolated spots will remain. of course, the ice won't disappear from the caucus is altogether done like a will be some places where glaciers remained, but there will be very few of them. it would have origin you're watching well. so you've been studying one particular greg, sure, john, quite for your career for decades now. how has that changed over time? the needs of what the scientist had been closely studying the journey. quite glazier since 1968 thoughts of this at the for over 50 years. already that was repeated somewhat typical, average size and altitude. the nuclear should have that disclosure is in a valley near some, but you can see it all the way back there. that was sitting in a saddle between 2 summits in moscow, state university has been in charge of researching it element by studying this

class. here we can see patterns that are relevant for all ice in this area. on monday, when the whole caucus is region cello, the research shows that the glaciers are receding, little becoming smaller in size, volume and height. not a thinning out or did nic available in the 1960 is the glazier covered? 3.2 square kilometers. the we're now it's 2.5, but the other but good was so it's lost about 20 to 25 percent in 50 years. that both the little orbital, what the cooper so as gracious or seed or as they change over time. the weather can change as well. have you seen any changes in the weather or any consequences of glacial breakers receiving here in this specific area? the nikki is just on the you load the cookbook over the last 50 years that the glaze he has been monitored. the general trend has been towards a gradual increase in precipitation levels. and it's a good thing for the glazier. and then we'll go over the accumulation of ice in the glazier depends on the total amount of precipitation. you see that my heart bleeds

for glaciers here because i study them and would like them to exist for as long as possible homecare muscle. but unfortunately, this trend cannot offset the opposing tendency related to the summer period when glaciers lose mass. or is that the result of changes in solar radiation levels and their temperature? we got you glazier is our natural indicators of climate change and changes in climate determine how glaciers behave. air temperatures arising everywhere across the globe, which is a strong and steady trend. it's becoming warmer, which is where as a result, the glazier is losing mass at an increasingly rapid rate to mid winner. the balance between these 2 processes accumulation and ablation muscle is tipping towards a loss of mass video. so the glaciers are presently losing mass density. and the trends of the summer season now prevailing for now at least not 0 percent over the modest is even if positive trends of the winter season. but underneath the new

builder understand now is said that a glacier can be kind of like a time machine. from the moment it was formed until today. can you read glaciers like a book? what kind of information can you get from them? and how do you actually extract that information? the in the bulletin yogurt, dorothy just reboot center the nigger, the monitoring activities at the glazier today include mostly direct observation. if we take direct measurements, it could be snow gauging surveys or measuring the snow melt level using a variety of tools like rods. then we verify the obtained results by comparing them to geodetic measurements physic, to your physical survey, data, et cetera. that would be with however, with this only concerns present day monitoring, where we make observations has we work. it's information about the time before we came here can only be extracted from the depths of the glacier. and you need to pull out an ice call by drilling iglesia way throughout it. thickness is a kind of data repository where information is stored about events in the distant past. culturally, the history that can be retrieved from the glazier does not go back endlessly

though still the glacial mass renews. here in the valley, glaciers of the caucuses, we were fined ice, dating back dozens of thousands of years. the joint quite glaze here. for example, the full cycle of ice mass exchange completes every 110 years. in some other places, older ice can be found in some crazy old cavities where it stays intact longer. what will nothing urgent but with glazier like this one story can only get information about climate change over the past 100 to 110 years. but if we extract an ice go model exactly what information can we get from an ice score. if we can discern annual layers in the sample, they'll show us the mass balance in the glazier each year. be it. and we can identify the exact year by isotopes and other techniques. idiots. if we drill a well at a spot where complete meltdown of ice never occurs, where we can count how many layers we have, what amount of data the layer we're interested in that way. then we get the value of mass balance for that particular year. in that particular spot,

which is composed of 2 terrific methods, including radioisotope dating science to distinguish between these parameters, we can see how the temperatures and precipitation levels changed throughout these 100 to 110 years ago. but it is built up. we can also evaluate the changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere over a certain period of time. if we analyzed the impurities of war, harris cells, et cetera, captured in the ice field again, then a plethora of analytic methods can be used to evaluate the environmental situation and climatic parameters at a given time in the past. that's how it all works. but i want to more with with, but it isn't. so i have to ask a lot of people think of science or just paper work in numbers, but your job can be danger. those long expeditions, there's cracks in the ice. there's bad weather avalanches, let's say, what's most dangerous situation that you've ever encountered? have you ever been scared for your life? talk to me a little bit about that aspect. gooder see the blue mountain civil is spelled danger for humans above. they're not safe. when we're working on iglesia,

we have to think about the safety of the procedures we're carrying out. first of all, it's a club with no scientific result is worth a lost human life. when you do it, however, we can anticipate and avert any danger, liquidity, that it's one of the main tasks that explorers of the mountains pursue, is toys and to find the potential danger city and take measures to increase their safety as best they can. broadly speaking, we have to walk across crevice surfaces and ice fall areas when working on the glacier, which requires proper mountaineering gear and techniques not including safety equipment like a harness that is all to do. that's what we teach our students with the door and what we use at all times. if however, certain events can't be anticipated. i've never lunches, for example, isn't what would you that's why every time we get on to a slope, we have to assess the avalanche hazard. of that particular location 1st, which is subway ticket though there are slopes, which is strictly prohibited to accessing anywhere the condition, no matter how convenient they might be for completing

a scientific mission with it. and ideally, we have to keep that in mind from the start up and try not to plan any measurements on avalanche crone slopes. we said what we can't position our equipment there because we need to be able to access it at any time. unfortunately, you can't do this everywhere in the mountains who have it in because you have to pick locations carefully that off the global word, falling rocks or another danger grandmother we've got, i think it's like um, new rock slides are a frequent occurrence in the mountains. so in 2009 vickers, glacier monitoring bass was destroyed by an avalanche. fortunately nobody was hurt, but to sending i sent to snow is a major threat to everyday life. here. the region is one of the most avalanche prone places in the world. using temperatures are cause of for the changing face of the terrain. got to come out of has it been battling snow classes here for over 30 years? he's on the military avalanche control squad. he knows these mountains better than anyone. eager to thank you very much for coming out to meet us. i. i have to say

that when we were coming down the mountain to actually meet you, victor and i witnessed an actual avalanche. so i have to ask, i are avalanches happening more often? what was the frequency of avalanches has to do with climate change? because when you look up the road, but it's the type of change, it's not directly related to global warming because i still have still, i have to admit, we're seeing more avalanche activity nowadays. now for example, there was a massive pine forest near the village of tesco, but she was thought that's further over there. we'll go to school, but now it's just bunch trees. read your foot on before 19691. there were pine trees everywhere. bush nichols that they've gone now. avalanches have wiped them out of the past. 50 years could be settled. so have you ever personally witnessed an avalanche and if so tell me about that aspect and that was not a controlled situation. and how did you handle that? oh, don't not blue though, ill trust? all?

yes, i have seen avalanches wortha, in fact, i was caught in one or a unit number on march, the 8th, 1973 in that done by region. that's in the west and caucuses, were whitaker. now sports guy was with the crew, filming a science documentary awards new on our way down the mountain range. ambrose and massive snows lab came crashing down, stored on over his lawyer. luckily, i was just tossed aside. well, some, some spontaneous avalanches like this happened from time to time futile truth. you're going to stop by merrily and places that have no avalanche control even as a ship, or what time of year do avalanches most happen. or when do they frequent to this area? should i be worried about an avalanche right now? good or cheated or look, even for a layman? surely there are certain meteorological factors from no contract to determine whether it's safe or whether it's time to pack up and head down. little schoolgirl . first of all, what we're talking about heavy snow fall, the longer it last issue,

the more dangerous it becomes few in this new go up, are that secondary what? it's, what we call wind transport. when strong winds carry huge amounts of snow from one place to another, yet recovery piece even to of beginner. these 2 factors are very important to take into account to go beyond that. there are warning systems in place so much. in any case, you should always rely on your own observations. i mean, can you right now, of course, run it still very early for avalanches, for a live could threaten the valley. so you're perfectly safe if they're more steadwood social spoke with. so i know that they send off cannon charges, and there are different ways that you can control an avalanche. you're the expert, your experience is unparalleled because this area is known for avalanches. what is the best way to control the situation of the units through the united states, russia and canada with the 1st and probably the only countries to implement state

run avalanche protection systems. by the way, europe has no such system as a sheet. you know, many years of experience, we've learned that the best approach is a combination of different measures and they looked 1st off, various avalanche defense structures at the i, the avalanche gallery video, the snow retention structures we passed on our way here. glad you, scott. these are combined with a number of active measures and as a sheet, but like i said, i'm a really important thing is to combine anti avalon structures. so with active interventions, shoot that the such as showing you and other preventative efforts, ortiz did i . so as gracious get smaller, they reflect less sunlight out into the space which makes the greenhouse effect on earth increase, which makes glaciers melt. are they killing themselves in this case?

look this brain iglesia, whether it's shrinking or growing, reflect more sunlight lynette surrounding bedrock or otherwise read books. so the main point here is that the glacier creates a local climate which has cooler bullet, a closed door above the glazier. the temperature is typically lower compared to the surrounding mountain area of age. that's one of the effects of these places in the decal. or is there anything that we can do to may be slow down the process of glaciers melting in glaciers we're seeing, is there anything we can do as humans? are we helpless in this process? the lafleur, the question you the shrinking of glaciers due to global warming is not so much a product of human activity, but rather a consequence of certain external factors. we mentioned they needed the only way to slow down the melting of places is through a massive intervention from mobile. that is, for example, that could, we could cover an entire glazier with a layer of rocks. yes, there are other more unconventional methods slippery, for example,

although it may sound depressing or the nuclear war scenario, but almost a year. so the scientists have come up with different simulations of how glaciers would react. in the case of a hypothetical nuclear conflict, i personally hope it remains a hypothesis. it's like though, if we are talking about $4.00 to $5000.00 mega tons, the explosions would release vast quantities of sotera cells into the atmosphere. of this would reduce our atmospheres transparency. to such an extent that the global temperature on earth would drop to minus 20 degrees celsius or according to some predictions down to minus 50 degrees celsius were mentioned. so that means as a result of all iglesias in the world would stop melting the surface of salad. while this is an effective way to slow down the melting was the security, i hope this scenario remains purely hypothetical. so if i understand also correctly in the 10th centuries here in this region, the glaciers drastically receded. and then there was the little ice age bus called

good. this is just one of the cycles more and therapy multiple cycles like this over the millennia. normally. but these cycles do not follow the classical sine wave pattern. so 2 places increase in size quite rapidly. choose what it takes a very long time for them to shrink and disappear completely because it was the case during the r, he's breaking place the ation from the 5th to the 10th centuries filled up, all of them disobey. so one question i have is, is this all connected in one giant ecosystem globally? i do the change of glaciers here. have an effect elsewhere in the globe somewhere, let's say in tenure, my don't think so. i was the same effect of being observed across the globe due to climb, matic reasons of a global nature of the cosmic nature. if you will, below a today we're seeing the same trend in almost every mountain system. remove tracy as a shrinking because they're getting smaller, but it's not a permanent process and it's not a uniform across different ecosystems. emily,

it's true glaciers are shrinking fast across most of the globe. if all right now it's particularly evident in the rocky mountains, north america, you the, in the alps, they did not civic or the coda mountains. and as of i koski territory and russia hope scholarship. yet at the same time, there are mountain ranges where glaciers are doing quite well. let go of the go with the many glaciers in north scandinavia are increasing their mass and even advancing the color shoots. scandinavia is in a better place in this regard than many other regions that showed that until recently the late 1996 my medical the same positive trend was observed in a number of other mountain ranges earlier. for example, around the greenland shield, good in new zealand, them even in the caucuses of similar block in the late 19 eighties. early 19 nineties, there was a period when place he has. we're doing much better than now, or any part of the day, you'll even stopped receding yell, some were increasing in mass than you. so also my understanding is that as war,

glaciers melted adds fresh water to the oceans. and that can slow down the gulf stream, which can cause temperatures to drop in europe. on how fast can we expect that to start happening, or is it already happening? scott gunther do a certain extent. it happens all the time and the more glaciers melt you, the more meltwater is released, torture. but if this isn't as simple as that one from releasing more water because of increased melting, ablation needed though, tracy as are also shrinking, or the floors or their area is getting smaller. i thought that was opened the product of a great run off nice applied by a smaller area, doesn't result in more water. it would after a while glaze, he'll run off, we'll start decreasing new and it's happening already. how the deal of gas glazier seemed to be responding to climate warming that you hand arm melting more, but it doesn't mean that the volume of fresh water will continue to increase forever weather. now something that you touched on earlier in our private conversations on is about the idea of fresh water for populations,

is that as glaciers recede, there will be less fresh water for our civilians touch me a little bit about that. no, no, this is the key thing to remember when we plan glass your monitoring lewis, essentially iglesia ology, the scientific study of places has to practical goals. first, to learn about how water resources are changing the level of the water is human kinds, main, natural resource which it in for about 2nd to protect us from disasters of the house for fresh water resources. it's true that it's been a major concern in some countries for a while, not only but different countries have different approaches to it. and you, what in the area areas of central asia shrinking lacey as mean less run off, which could lead to catastrophic consequences in the future? it's beginning to be felt even today. there reservoirs are getting less water than what they were originally expected to hold last year. you had guessed on face the issue of insufficient water for hydro electric power plants at that was did. they even started preparing people for the idea that there might be rolling outages to,

to low water levels in the reservoirs. this problem is only going to get worse and i would, than i think we'll see more frequent instances of that as glazes melt. patricia church from unit. okay. because you were you mentioned about more frequent catastrophes. ah, we've seen in the movies, we know that the she water is going to rise and that the coastal cities could be obliterated by floods. where does science fiction and reality meet? like, what can we really expect or do we not even know yet? so the such did in your 64 meters is the classic threshold by which the sea level is expected to rise. in theory, it would have been that won't happen when you believe ice on earth that will least at this stage of the planetary evolution is never going to be completely lost to study for you. i'm talking about the ice mass in greenland, antarctica, et cetera, wouldn't boost the ship. essentially what we're saying about the evolution of the ice cover mostly has to do with mountain ice or through zillow, but all mountain systems of the world combined only amounts to about 3 percent of

the total ice reserves kinda most of it in antarctica system of them for this mass of ice to milton is cook with, we'd need a planetary cataclysm through what i would call a cosmic level event, like an asteroid crashing into our planet with chris staying on the idea of where fantasy meets our reality. or we know that in antarctica, they have discovered viruses deep in ice. and we know that in china recently. the same thing has happened. is that something that we need to worry about? we're coming off of a pandemic here. do we need to worry about ancient virus is coming into our system nuclear clipper. so i think this is something that needs to be looked into than usually the idea that there may be ancient microorganisms which could be released after ice melt. makes sense, but it's not a concern for the whole world to lose sleep over in the mother or though doctors ecologist and other relevant specialists should be the ones to judge. well would emitter, definitely something to consider. louis middle, the middle. now we've talked

a little bit about this presently as well as your job can be dangerous, but it is really interesting. it's really cool. what keeps you motivated? what about your job is fascinating to you. to me personally, there no ethnic as the elite researcher has his own reasons, but then for me mount in to the most aesthetically pleasing part of the world surface. and we both got to what's interesting about mountains is that the neighboring valley is, can have entirely different landscapes and you offer different views. but well, over when you're on a plane, you need to go to other regions or other countries for a change of scene. here are things change very quickly for you to run of mountains are so diverse, you're watching with that. i mean there are so called modern looking alpine type mountains, like the caucuses or the else themselves. look at the there are older, smoother ranges from them which can still be very high like that. yeah. and shun will more. what level are these needle like mountains which look like something from a moon scape in patagonia argentina,

away my favorite region. what the very beautiful mountain, central unforgettable it for me working in the mountains, is a joy robot. the able to being able to do my job and do something useful for humanity. so i hope that is my prime motivation, like global global models, countries that need to manage their water resources for the purposes of hydraulic engineering, or simply economic activity as a whole needs data from different mountain systems with what we're doing here in the caucasus. for example, above which is really important for international databases. you, him, there is a certain political dimension to the study of glazes who's looking for example, right now, we're working on a glazier part, which is in a foreign country in georgia. you're the one you live, we used to be able to take measurements across the entire glacier. we need to cover a 100 percent of the area to determine the mass balance it because it's more difficult now because the less, there is a border unfair. i don't like to discuss politics, but it's something you have to take into account there. but because political developments are increasingly impacting on glaciers,

which will take water use in central asia for the mac or a serious conflict emerging between neighboring countries like care to get down and tajikistan. so again, just give chilly and argentine or, or another example of what they had major differences on where to draw the border. i believe all of this requires glacial, logical knowledge to resolve below. i'd like people to know more about iglesias who to focus lenny bush overdue. ah victor, thank you very much for showing me around your office. it has been a true pleasure. hoped to come back and spend some time with you again some time. let's see. well, thank you for for

ah, the claims of the king of the belgians leopold the 2nd to the congo were finally authorized by the leading european countries in 1885. in the very heart of the african continent. a state under the rule of the belgian monarch was declared since the beginning, the congo free state was total, may him for the local population and functioned as a universal concentration camp. the majority of the population, including women and children, were forced to work on the rubber plantations. those who failed to fulfill their quota were beaten and mutilated. to keep the congolese people under control, the king set up the so called for spook leak,

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