ИСТИНА

Large amount of desert dust is transported to the long distances and deposited on the glaciers in Caucasus. Light absorbing particles (LAI) including desert dust, change albedo of the snow surface. Thus, it leads to the faster melting of snow and shortening of the seasonal snow cover. Using ice core data from selected glaciers in Caucasus region (Western plateau of Elbrus, Eastern summit of Elbrus, Kazbek, Bezengi) we revealed history of dust deposition events. We calculated the total dust flux and defined that large dust events became more frequent in the past decades. It was revealed that even for the highest accumulation areas of glaciers dust deposition events can significantly decrease the snow cover period and giving the increase in dust concentration for the lower altitudes dust particles play important role in snow cover duration shortening. In this work we present first estimations on dust deposition influence of snow melt and discuss potential risks for the touristic sphere.