Structure and dynamics of snow and ice formations in the Khibiny Mountains in the 21st century

In 1958 V.F. Perov, staff member of the Khibiny Research and Training Station of the MSU Faculty of Geography, described four snow-ice formations in the Khibiny Mountains and classified them as very small glaciers. Until our research began in 2005, these glaciers were not studied in detail. We used field observations, drilling, GIS and remote sensing methods to study the structure of the glaciers and evaluate changes in their geometry during 60 years. The snow-ice formations were drilled through for the first time and the ice cores underwent geochemical and isotope-oxygen analyses. The thickness of ice kernels varies from 0,2 to 1,6 m. Our investigations showed that despite a slight degradation, the glaciers` area remains relatively stable since 1958. This fact may be caused by the increase in solid precipitation in recent years. According to the analysis of climatic changes, in the early 2000s a decrease in snowfall was observed in the Khibiny Mountains. The maximum snow thickness at the meteorological site of the Khibiny station in 2002–2003 winter period was 55 cm. This could be a factor of more than 2 times decrease of glacier areas during 2000–2010. After 2007 there has been an increase in snow precipitation, and the maximum snow depth of 180 cm was observed in 2020, the absolute maximum for the whole period of observations (1984–2020). According to published data the increase in mean annual temperature at the plains of the Kola Peninsula is 2,3 ± 1°C during the last 50 years. However, mean monthly temperatures of the summer do not rise. We consider that, along with recently increasing snow precipitation, this is exactly what determine rather stable state of snow-ice formations in the Khibiny Mountains, which appeared to be more resistant to climate warming than mountain glaciers.

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