The Changes of Mount Süphan Glaciers With Special Reference to Global Warming

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Firstly, of all, one of the major objectives of this study is to identify the direction and speed of climatic changes occurring in the Eastern part of Turkey by examining glacial changes in the region. Seeking answers the questions, such as, whether to global warming has any warming effect on the climate of the Eastern Turkey; if it really has such an effect what, s the magnitude and scope? Would also be among the objectives of the study. To trace the probable effects of the global warming, Eastern Anatolian Mountain Süphan, being one of the highest with summit glaciers, was chosen as the area investigation. Mostly aerial photographs, field studies, documents and related literature have been used during the investigation. In this way analysis of the area was possible for over a hundred-year time beginning from the 19th century up to now. The findings are alarming in all aspects. The Süphan caldera- 2.5-3 km in length; 400 m. in width; 70-100 in depth which was almost filled with glaciers at the end of the 19th century. Since then, approximately 99% of the glaciers have almost completely diminished by melting. This the indication of ever increasing warming effect beginning from the second half of the 19th century.

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Climatic changes , global warming , glacial changes , mount Süphan , aerial photographs

eastern geographical review

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eastern geographical review