An outline of Russo-Japanese joint glacier research in Kamchatka, 1996

A three-year Russo-Japanese joint glacier research was started in 1996, aiming at clarifying the glacial system and its variation in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The first year's field research was carried out at three regions of Kamchatka from June 21 to August 22, 1996 : the Kronotsky Peninsula, Ushkovsky Volcano and the Kozyrevka Range. The topics under study include: 1) mass balance, flow, heat balance and hydrological features of the Koryto Glacier in the Kronotsky Peninsula, 2) stratigraphic analysis of shallow firn core of Ushkovsky Ice Cap, 3) start of monitoring of east-west climatic contrast by setting automatic weather stations, 4) reconstruction of Quaternary glaciations in Kamchatka, 5) analysis of Quaternary eolian deposits in Kamchatka and 6) analysis of vegetation patterns with micro-scaling in central Kamchatka. The obtained results show that 1) the Koryto Glacier is characterized by an intensive mass exchange ; 2) potentiality of paleoclimate reconstruction over the circum Okhotsk region from the Ushkovsky Ice Cap was considered; 3) Quaternary glaciation in the central part of Kamchatka was discussed; 4) existence of extensive eolian deposits in the central part of Kamchatka was studied; and 5) vegetation pattern in the Kozyrevka Range and its surroundings was examined.