a retreat plan to implement to develop cooperation in the mining and military and agricultural sector. and lastly, russia's foreign minister also said moscow will take steps to protect a retreat from the west, illegal sanctions and further projects that potentially come under their umbrella. and that will no doubt ensure that friendly relations between the 2 countries will continue to grow freedom and another african youth. russia is cultivating cultural ties within the continent. as it unveiled a bust of astronaut yury, ga guardian. earlier this week, rushes the r c embassy along with the country. all countries oldest university, revealed a bus for the of the 1st man in space and his opening speech. the nature of the russian ambassador emphasized the significance of the occasion, which symbolizes a growing friendship between the 2 states. according to the diplomat, moscow will continue to explore space and welcomes all interested parties to cooperate. those were the top stories for this our, for more up to the minute,

updates head over to r, t dot com, and up next. what lies beneath mount l breasts. the glaciers of europe's highest p . concealed proof filled data about a warming planet. post. john thomas explores in england visions. we'll see you back next hour. ah, with ah mm.

there is no question that our climate is changing and how it will affect life on this plan. it is a great interest. will we be able to adapt glaciers which are formed over tens of thousands of years can give us important information into our climate and how it has changed over time. what a scary is our glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. 2 and more we came here to mount albus, to speak to victor, couple of them. he has a great geologist who has devoted his entire life to the topic. it is a fascinating at times dangerous and very important job. ah, he is on natural indicators of climate change. it's becoming a sunday, they will disappear. today we're seeing the same trend in almost every mountain system as a shrinking just getting smaller. ah,

do we need to worry about viruses coming into our system? definitely something to consider with is there anything we can do as humans? are we helpless in this process? the only way to slow down the melting of glazes is through a massive intervention. the nuclear war scenario. the whole iglesias in the world would stop melting even being able to do my job and do something useful for humanity. so i hope it is my prime motivation. 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? no. okay, then you would go, then you would 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 are the 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 it began to shrink and almost disappeared. around the 5th century 80. but really we refer to the period between that time and the 10th century as the or his break. and lacy, asian, or mercy era research near are his, 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. if this cycle will repeat and we can extrapolate from the data, we have to predict the next period. really 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, couple of just a few isolated spots will remain the course. the ice won't disappear from the caucus is altogether done like a will be some places where glaze he has remained,

but there will be very few of them. you would have thought you're watching. well. so you've been studying one particular glacier, 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 up for over 50 years. already the balls repeated somewhat typical average size and altitude. you got, i should know that this glazier 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 by studying this class here. we can see patterns that are relevant for all ice in this area. even even the whole caucus is region cia. the research shows that the glaciers are receding, little becoming smaller in size, volume and height. with a thinning out nick, available in the $960.00 is the glazier covered 3.2 square kilometers. the we're now it's $2.00. the other but up good with her. it's last 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 glaciers receiving here in this specific area? lydia keith? yes. from the you loads good. we're 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 good. then we'll go over the accumulation of ice in the glazier depends on the total amount of precipitation. you see that at my heart bleeds for glaciers. here because i study them and would like them to exist for as long as possible whole shape muscle. but unfortunately, this trend cannot offset the opposing tendency related to the summer period when glaciers lose mass. but that's the result of changes in solar radiation levels and their temperature fuel plays. here's 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 why as a result, the glazier is losing mass at an increasingly rapid rate or to midwinter. the balance between these 2 processes accumulation and ablation must just tapping towards a loss of mass did out so the glaciers are presently losing mass. density will depend the trends of the summer season. now prevailing for now, at least that 0 percent over the modest is lead, even if positive trends of the winter season. brendan, renew of renewable understand now, it 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 in the blue then you got the lucy just middleton her vinegar. the monitoring activities at the glaciers today include mostly direct observation. when

we take direct measurements, it could be snow gauging surveys or measuring the snow melt level using a variety of tools like rods. and then we verify the obtained results by comparing them to geodetic measurements, physically, or physical survey data, and cetera. we'll get that would be, will go over with this only concerns present day monitoring where we make observations. has we work with that information about the time before we came here? we can only be extracted from the depths of the glacier look, and you need to pull out an ice cold by drilling iglesia way throughout it. thickness is a kind of data repository where information is stored about events in the distant past. actually, 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 worked. find ice dating back dozens of thousands of years. the john, quite close here, for example. the full cycle of ice mass exchange completes every 110 years. these in some other places, older ice can be found in some glacial cavities where it stays intact to longer

what one of them, 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, hm, what exactly what information can we get? when i score life, we can discern annual lares in the sample. they'll show us the mass balance in the glazier each year. and we can identify the exact year by isotopes and other techniques, affiliates, if we drill a well at a spot where complete meltdown of ice never occurs. what we can count, how many layers we have with lamp data, the layer we're interested in, the we 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 analyze the impurities walker cells, et cetera,

captured in the ice to build 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 but of isn't it? so i have to ask a lot of people, think of science is just paperwork and numbers, but your job can be dangerous. there's long expeditions. there's crashing the ice. there's bad weather avalanches. let's say, what's the 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 soother blue mountain civil is spelled danger for humors 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. can you do it, however, we can anticipate and avert any danger? the brittany, this is one of the main tasks that explorers of the mountains pursue, is toyed and to fight the potential dangerously 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 safe equipment like a harness. it is all to do. that's what we teach our students whistle and what we use at all times. however, certain events can't be anticipated above a lunches, for example, isn't what, what your that's why every time we get on to a slope, we have to assess the avalanche hazard of that particular location. first, which is a sub ticket though, there are slopes, which are strictly prohibited to accessing anywhere, the condition, no matter how convenient they might be for completing a scientific mission. and ideally, we have to keep that in mind from the start up and trying not to plan any measurements on avalanche prone slopes. is that 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, but if you have to pick locations carefully that off the global word,

falling rocks or another danger grandmother will go off, typically come, you rock slides are a frequent occurrence in the mountain. so in 2009 vickers, glacier monitoring bass was destroyed by an avalanche. fortunately nobody was hurt, but to sending ice and snow is a major threat to everyday life. here, the region is one of the most avalanche prone places in the world. rising temperatures are caused for the changing face of the terrain. the hot commodity 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 avalanche is happening more often. what was the frequency of avalanches has to do with climate change? because meaning, you know, got to do, but it's the type of change that's not directly related to global warming because i

still still, i have to admit, we're seeing more avalanche activity nowadays. for example, there was a massive pine forest near the village of tesco, which we store that's further over there. we'll go to school, but now it's just bunch trees we just looked on before. 19691. there were pine trees everywhere, wasn't equal, but they've gone now. avalanches have wiped them out of the past 50 years peacefully. 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. it was just a rule. yes, i have seen avalanches on one of the in fact, i was caught in one or you knew 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. a massive snow

slab came crashing down, storing over his lawyer. luckily, i was just tossed aside with some, some spontaneous avalanches like this happened from time to time. fewer truth, you're going to stop by merrily and places that have no avalanche control or even as a ship of 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, or today, or look even for a layman on that, 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 of the longer it last issue, the more dangerous it becomes few in this new go up are that secondly, what it's, what we call when transport. when strong winds carry huge amounts of snow on one place to another, if you pick up to repeat even to a beginner, these 2 factors are very important to take into account to go beyond that, there are warning systems in place. we shall not, 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. really? it could threaten the valley, so you're perfectly safe. is there more to which 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. oh, what is the best way to control the situation? oh said unit, though the united states, russia and canada with the 1st and probably the only countries to implement state run avalanche protection systems. oh, by the way, europe has no such system as a ship. 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. we're on our way here glue. scott,

these are combined with a number of active measures as a sheet that 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 or keys did you? ah, so as glaciers gets smaller, they reflect less sunlight out into the uh, space. which makes the greenhouse effect on earth increase, which makes glaciers melt. are they killing themselves in this case? look, this brain iglesia at the whether it's shrinking or growing, reflect more sunlight lynette, surrounding bedrock or otherwise, right butcher. 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, a converge, that's one of the effects of these clays,

josefina decor. oh sure, is there anything that we can do to may be slow down the process of glaciers melting in glaciers receiving? is there anything we can do as humans or are we helpless in this process though? so, so 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. women should they need the only way to slow down the melting of places is through a massive intervention. remember, when was that? if, for example, that could, we could cover an entire glazier with a layer of rocks? yes, there are other, more unconventional methods. so for example, although it may sound depressing, other 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 hypothetical nuclear conflict, i personally hope it remains a hypothesis is look though if we are talking about $4.00 to $5000.00 mega tons from the explosions would release vast quantities of sotera sold into the

atmosphere. all 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, all iglesias in the world would stop melting yet, or the chances of salad. while this is an effective way to slow down the melting was the security, i hope this scenario remains purely hypothetical through. 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 to if a piece is just one of the cycles, it were more and there have been multiple cycles like this over the millennia, normally. but these cycles do not follow the classical sine wave pattern. food places increase in size quite rapidly towards what would it takes a very long time for them to shrink and disappear completely. because as 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 climatic reasons of a global nature of the cosmic nature if you will. the blizzards today we're seeing the same trend in almost every mountain system. remove lazy as a shrinking because they are 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. it all right now it's particularly evident in the rocky mountains of 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 world 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 which showed that until recently the late 1990 single minute of 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 caucasus theme. you dark blue in the late 19 eighties, early 19 ninety's. there was a period when blaze he has we're doing much better than now or any part of the regularly even stopped receding yell. some were increasing in mass. 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? gunther, to 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,

what are from releasing more water because of increased melting? you some money that those places are also shrinking other floors or the 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. have the deal of gas glazier seem to be responding to climate warming that you hand on 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 is about the idea of fresh water for populations is that as glaciers recede, there will be less fresh water for civilians. touch me a little bit about that though, but yet this is the key thing to remember when we plan glassy or monitoring who essentially iglesia ology. the scientific study of glaciers has to practical goals . first, to learn about how water resources are changing the level of the water is human kinds, main,

natural resources in from out 2nd to protect us from disasters of as for fresh water resources. it's true that it's been a major concern in some countries for a while, but only, but different countries have different approaches to it. and 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. they're reservoirs are getting less water than what they were originally expected to hold just a little bit last year, just on face the issue of insufficient water for hydro, electric power plants of bubbles do. they even started preparing people for the idea that there might be rolling outages to, to low water levels in the reservoir. 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, if i muted though quickly because you were you mentioned about more frequent catastrophes . ah, we seen in the movies. we know that the she water is going to rise and that the coastal cities could be obliterated by floods are where does science fiction?

i am reality meet like what can we really expect or do we not even know yet? so is this such, did he miss 64 meters? is the classic threshold by which the sea level is expected to rise. in theory, it would have, that won't happen when you play laser 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 antarctic, or et cetera, would it boom to get 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 amount to about 3 percent of the total ice reserve filter. most of it in antarctica system of them for this mass of ice to milton you spoke with, we'd need a planetary cataclysm through what i would call a cosmic level event, like an asteroid crashing into our planet or the card 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 were coming off of a pandemic here? or 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 the new. so the idea that there may be ancient micro organisms 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 with that, although doctors ecologist and other relevant specialists should be the ones to judge william, it's definitely something to consider louis mythical religion. 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. the me personally there no at the cause the elite research has his own reasons, but then we're me mount in to the most aesthetically pleasing part of the world

surfacing looper yet with the got the what's interesting about mountains is that the neighboring values can have entirely different landscape and you offer different views, but well, if, when you're on a plane, you need to go to other regions or other countries for a change of scene, both to hear things change very quickly. the youth rather mountains are so diverse, watching within a minute. there are so called modern looking alpine type mountains like the caucuses or the alps themselves. look at the there are older, smoother ranges from mill fence, which can still be very high, like the tan, shine a little more. what level are these needle like mountains which look like something from a moon scape in patagonia argentina of away my favorite region? what the blue, 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 it is my prime motivation, the 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 mountains systems with what we're doing here in the caucasus. for example, which is really important for international databases. you, him, there is a certain political dimension to the study of glazes who is that you for example, right now we're working on iglesia, part of which is in a foreign country in georgia, hulu. and you live, we used to be able to take measurements across the entire glacier looney to cover a 100 percent of the area to determine the mass balance. because of 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 gets down into gk dermatologist, give chilly and argentina, or another example of what they had major differences on where to draw the border. i believe all of this requires glazier logical knowledge to resolve below. i'd like people to know more about glaciers who discipline a bush over you, her. 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 sometime. let's see, but thank you for ah, a pretty common your point is a good enough. let me know what a mirror with some i'd love to chill this

machine. yeah. yeah. you get a good job. why did you got going to have that up with this? because you get with mad that up way, anything that i beat was a lot to shift left in things you can see it for your lunch hour is up with me. not mitchell. i had to be put off it when i would show the wrong one. i just don't want you to say about the same because the advocate

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