page_title: Konstantin Makarevich
section_title: Research activities
hierarchical_section_title: Konstantin Makarevich / Biography / Research activities
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Ледник Макаревича, 2018 год
context_page_description: Konstantin Grigorievich Makarevich was a Soviet and Kazakhstani glaciologist. He made a significant scientific contribution to the development and popularization of glaciology. Headed the Soviet glaciological expedition on the Tuyuksu glacier from 1956 to 1992 and was the founder of the glaciological station. For more than 20 years he was as an official representative of the Soviet Union in the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Author of more than 200 scientific articles, monographs, regional and autobiographical books and essays. Two glaciers and two passes in the Trans-Ili and Dzhungarian Alatau are named after him. A veteran of the World War II, an order-bearer.
context_section_description: For more than 40 years of research, he has been primarily concerned with studying the mass balance of glaciers, considering this aspect to be the most important direction in glaciology. He also believed that the study of glaciers is an important aspect of the national security of the country, being one of the strategic resources of fresh water in arid territories.
  Within the framework of the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958 (IGY) was an active initiator of the inclusion of glaciological research and the Glaciology Sector of the Institute of Geography among the institutions for the international exchange of observational data and their publications within the IGY. In the person of the administrative and scientific leader, he formed a research group consisting of 35 people. In 1962 the research on the Tuyuksu glacier was described in the collection "General Description of Research. Trans-Ili Alatau".
  He believed that the glacier mass balance is closely related to the height of the glacier feeding boundary, on the basis of which he calculated the characteristics of glaciers and predicted the influence of climatic factors on the glaciation of the Tien Shan. Based on the long-term data on accumulation, ablation and the glacier mass balance, the most important conclusion was made about the systematic reduction of glaciers, as well as the potential danger of accelerating the process of melting due to increasing anthropogenic impact. Thus, according to observations from 1957, the glacier has lost about 57 million m3 of ice. As of 2009, according to Makarevich's calculations, over 50 years the glacier retreated by 700 meters, and if the rate of ablation continues, the glacier may disappear after 120 years. He was interested in improving the efficiency of observations on the glacier regime. He also paid much attention to the problems of spatial changes in glaciers, internal and external mass transfer, developed a radio-geodetic method of obtaining "quick data" on the change rates in the glacier mass . Studied surging glaciers, such as Korzhenevsky, Shokalsky, Kroshka, Kassin, Constitution, Southern Talgar in the mountain range of the Trans-Ili Alatau.
  In the 1970s actively participated in the research of thermophysical properties of artificially created ice on the high-mountain skating rink "Medeu". The aim of the study was the possibility of maintaining a certain temperature of ice to ensure optimal glide in changing weather conditions, as well as the effect of solar radiation and the thermal state of artificial ice. He is one of the authors of the corresponded patent.
  Particular attention was paid to the glacier Central Tuyuksu, which became a representative glacier of the World Glacier Monitoring Service for the Central Asian region. Thanks to his efforts, constant research on the Central Tuyuksu Glacier has been carried out since 1956 to the present. The series "Fluctuations of Glaciers", issued every 5 years, are available on the World Glacier Monitoring Service website. The website also offers "Glacier Mass Balance Bulletin" as well as the "Global Glacier Change Bulletin", published biennially.
  
  Two glaciers are named after him for the valuable contribution to the development and popularization of glaciology: one is in the Trans-Ili Alatau (in the upper reaches of the Kaskelen River), the other is in the Dzhungarian Alatau (in the Aksu River basin), and two passes in the Trans-Ili (4000 m.) and Dzungarian Alatau (3850 m, in the upper reaches of the Kory river of Karatal).
caption: Makarevich glacier in Kaskelen pass, Trans-Ili Alatau, 2016
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