Adygine Research Station

Station name and owner

Adygine Research Station belongs to Institute of Water Problem and Hydropower, Kyrgyz National Academy of Science in Kyrgyz Republic.

Location

Adygine Research Station is situated in Northern Tchein-Shan on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz mountain range and in the ­National Nature Park Ala-Aracha. The study area is a glacier-­moraine complex lying at an altitude of 3400 – 4200 m a.s.l.

Climate data

Grey colours are WMO Climate Normals including maximum and minimum values. Blue colours are individual years.

Climate data for the stations where extracted via Copernicus Climate Data Store, from the global gridded reanalysis product: ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present. Description and source code: Roemer J.K. 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10214922 Data Source: Hersbach et al. 2023. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Biodiversity and natural environment

The climate near the station area is polar to sub-polar. The area consists of tundra with mosses, lichens, and unique flowers, even red listed species. The fauna consists of e.g. wild goats, yaks, and snow leopard (irbis).

History and facilities

The station was built in 2008. The building of the station has been designed as the letter ‘A’ and has the dimensions 6.5 × 7 m. The station can accommodate six-eight persons. All energy for running the station is mostly generated by a wind turbine unit and solar panels.

General research and databases

Monitoring of lakes: Changes in lake size, shape, and water level are monitored. All changes in morphology of moraine dams are also monitored. Meteorological observations: Two weather stations are installed in the study area. One is situated near the building at lake level and the other above the glacier at an elevation of 3830 m a.s.l. Glaciological studies: Monitoring of glacier retreat and changes in its volume. Hydrological studies: Hydrological research is an integral part of the monitoring of the development of lakes and their inflows and outflows. Other investigations: In addition to studies carried out by station staff, the station is also open to Kyrgyz and foreign scientists as a platform for different types of research.

Station Monitoring

Human dimension

The station is located only 40 km from the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek city.

Access

Bishkek airport can be reached by air in 40 minutes. From Bishkek, the research station can be reached by car through the main Ala-Archa valley (40 km). The last nine km to the station is by trail either on foot or on horseback.