Natural Science, 2015, 7, 151-157
Published Online March 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ns
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2015.73017
How to cite this paper: Tielidze, L.G., Gadrani, L. and Kumladze, R. (2015) A One Century Record of Changes at Nenskra and
Nakra River Basins Glaciers, Causasus Mountains, Georgia. Natural Science, 7, 151-157.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2015.73017
A One Century Record of Changes at Nenskra
and Nakra River Basins Glaciers, Causasus
Mountains, Georgia
Levan G. Tielidze, Lela Gadrani, Roman Kumladze
Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Email: levan.tielidze@tsu.ge , levani.tielidze@gmail.com
Received 28 February 2015; accepted 18 March 2015; published 20 March 2015
Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
The article considers the variability of Nenskra and Nakra River basins glaciers’ parameters in the
years of 1911-2014. Nenskra and Nakra River basins are located on the southern slope of the
Great Caucasus, between the Kharikhra, Shdavleri and Tsalgmili ranges, in Georgia, in particular
in the Enguri River basin. In our research we used the catalogue of the glaciers of Georgia com-
piled by K. Podozerskiy in 1911. We also used the military topographic maps with the scale of
1:25,000 and 1:50,000 drawn up in 1960 (in former Soviet Union), where there are the glaciers
mapped in detail and the ends of their ice tongues on the southern slope of Great Caucasus of
those times. We also used the remote sensing method, which is the best modern way for the study
of the dynamics of glaciers and this method is remarkable by a quick obtaining of results. The
spectral images of the Landsat L8 OLI/TIRS (Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sen-
sor) (USGS) received from the “Landsat” artificial satellite are the necessary materials for our
study. We also used the field survey materials of 2014 (GPS data). The latest statistical informa-
tion is also given about the glaciers located in the individual river basins; their morphological
types, exposition and the dynamics are considered according to the individual years.
Keywords
South Caucasus Glaciers, Glaciers of Georgia, Glaciers Dynamic, Remote Sensing
1. Introduction
Great attention is paid to the monitoring of glaciers in many countries, including their changing and observation
on its regime, which is very interesting information to find out about the climate global change. Climate change