Fedchenko Glacier


The Fedchenko Glacier is a large glacier in the Yazgulem Range, Pamir Mountains, of north-central Gorno-Badakhshan province, Tajikistan. The glacier is long and narrow, currently extending for and covering over. It is the longest glacier in the world outside of the polar regions. The maximum thickness of the glacier is, and the volume of the Fedchenko and its dozens of tributaries is estimated at —about a third the volume of Lake Erie.

Path and location

The glacier follows a generally northward path to the east of the Garmo Peak. The glacier begins at an elevation of above sea level, and eventually melts and empties into the Balandkiik River near the border with Kyrgyzstan at an elevation of. Its waters eventually feed down the Muksu, Surkhob, Vakhsh, and Amu Darya rivers into the Aral Sea.
To the west is the Academy of Sciences Range, Mount Garmo, Ismoil Somoni Peak, Peak Korzhenevskaya and the headwaters of the Vanj River and Yazgulyam River. To the south is Independence Peak and to the east Gorbunov Peak. To the north is Altyn Mazar.

Discovery

The glacier was discovered in 1878, and is named after Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, a Russian explorer. The Fedchenko was not fully explored until 1928 by a German-Soviet expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers. Between 1910 and 1913 the glacier expanded and moved forward by, blocking up the Balyandlik River the following year. It continued to recede between 1928 and 1960, stopping its inflows such as the Kosinenko, Ulugbeck, Alert and several others.