The Fedchenko Glacier (Russian Федченко, also transliterated Fedcenko) is a large glacier in the Pamir Mountains of central Tajikistan. The glacier is long and narrow, filling a valley about 70 kilometers (43 miles) long and covering over 700 km² (270 mi²), making it one of the largest glaciers in the world outside of the polar regions. The maximum thickness of the glacier is 1,000 meters (3,280 ft), and the volume of the Fedchenko and its dozens of tributaries is estimated at 144 km³ (35 mi³) - about a third the volume of Lake Erie. Transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another. ... Aletsch glacier, Switzerland A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ... Located in Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains are formed by the junction of the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... Earths polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles, north of the Arctic circle, or south of the Antarctic Circle. ... Lake Erie, looking southward from a high rural bluff near Leamington, Ontario Lake Erie (pronounced ) is one of the five large freshwater Great Lakes in North America, which are among the largest in the world. ...

The glacier follows a generally northward path to the east of the 6,595 meter (21,637 ft) Garmo Peak. The glacier begins at an elevation of 6,200 meters (20,340 ft) above sea level, and eventually melts and empties into the Balandkiik River near the border with Kyrgyzstan at an elevation of 2,909 meters (9,544 ft). Its waters eventually feed into the Muksu, Vakhsh, and Amu Darya rivers. The Vakhsh River (highlighted in blue) rises in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan and flows through Tajikistan before emptying into the Amu Darya. ... The Amu Darya (Darya means river) rises in the Pamirs and flows mainly north-west through the Hindu Kush, Uzbekistan to join the Aral Sea in a large delta. ...

The glacier was discovered in 1878 but not fully explored until 1928. It is named after Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, a Russian explorer (but not discoverer of the glacier). See also explorations, sea explorers, astronaut, conquistador, travelogue, the History of Science and Technology and Biography. ...

The Tajik government has recently expressed concerns that the Fedchenko and other Pamir glaciers have been shrinking due to global warming, and that continuing temperature increases could endanger that nation's water supply and extensive hydroelectric power infrastructure, both of which are driven almost entirely by glacier melt. Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is a term used to describe the trend of increases in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans that... A girl in a swimming pool Water (from the Old English waeter; c. ... Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg (tower) Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ...

External links

• Map of glaciation in the Pamir Mountains
• Google Maps satellite photo of Fedchenco Glacier (solid white line running approximately vertically in center of image)
• Current weather and 5-day forecast, from CNN

The Cable News Network, usually referred to as CNN, is a cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner[1] [2]. It is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, owned by Time Warner. ...

References

• "Fedchenko Glacier". Encyclopædia Britannica online edition. Retrieved December 8, 2005.
• "The First National Communication of the Republic of Tajikistan under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Repeblic of Tajikistan Ministry for Nature Protection. Dushanbe: 2002.
• "Tajikistan 2002: Vital Maps and Graphics on Climate Change". Tajikistan Met Service. Retrieved August 18, 2005.
• "Tajikistan - Topography and Drainage". U.S. Department of the Army. Published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Online version retrieved December 8, 2005.