the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 03 Mar 2026
Atmospheric and cryospheric observations at the high-altitude Zarafshon River Basin and the Hydrographic Party Glacier (GGP), Tajikistan, 2018–2025
Abstract. Central Asia is a region with high-altitude mountains, hosting numerous glaciers and widespread seasonal snow cover, both of which have an integral role in the regional hydrological cycle. Despite their importance, observations of cryospheric and atmospheric variables are scarce in this area but are essential to assess the temporal and spatial changes induced by climate change. To address this gap, we present a diverse data set of cryospheric and atmospheric variables from the Zarafshon River Basin and the Hydrographic Party Glacier (GGP) in Tajikistan, spanning the time frame of 2018–2025. The data includes glacier terminus position and snow conditions, glacier ablation, high resolution aerial photography, meteorological variables, surface reflectance combined with snow chemistry, and atmospheric aerosol concentrations. These observations provide a valuable basis for research on glacier dynamics, snow processes, and atmosphere-cryosphere interactions in a region where monitoring has been sparse. The data are available at the Finnish Meteorological Institute data repository METIS: https://doi.org/10.57707/fmi-b2share.t4vwg-gf542 (Svensson et al., 2026).
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Status: final response (author comments only)
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RC1: 'Comment on essd-2025-609', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 Mar 2026
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2025-609/essd-2025-609-RC1-supplement.pdfCitation: https://doi.org/
10.5194/essd-2025-609-RC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on essd-2025-609', Anonymous Referee #2, 19 Apr 2026
Review of Svensson et al for ESSD 2026
The manuscripts present a comprehensive dataset for at GGP glacier in Tajikistan, spanning several disciplines from classical glaciology to snow chemistry. While data collection spans a relatively short period, it is valuable because of the scarcity of data in the area. With revisions regarding mainly the methods description but also figure and table updates I can recommend this data description paper for publication.
Suggested revisions and clarifications
Introduction: I am missing an overview of similar data available in the area – maybe a map of something. You state that measurements at this elevation are sparse – does that mean that there are none published?
Line 60: It would be nice to make this data available also or point to a source?
Line 91: It would be nice to see the box outlined on one of the maps.
Paragraph around line 114-117: Maybe this would be easier to read in a table?
Section 2.3: Do you use the same GPS for stake positions? In line 130 you mention the stake positions were recorded with GPS, but with which system and with which accuracy?
Line 162-163 needs a revision for readability “[…] in a melted state but light protected state […]” and it ends with ..
Section 2.5: From Figure 3 it looks like new stakes were drilled every year, and that is not really clear in this section. Could you add some information, for example was the stakes redrilled every year and at what position, the original position or other places? State here also what the measurement strategy was, like did you only measure the stakes at the end of the melt season? When you say stake height is it then from the ice surface to the top of the stake? And was it deliberate to not put any in the accumulation zone? Maybe it was not logistically possible?
Section 2.6: Is there any calibration routine suggested by the producer of the AWS and was this done?
166: I don’t know what an Ion chromatograph is, so maybe that’s why I don’t know what you mean with “(Waters)” maybe this could be elaborated a bit.
171-172: I don’t really understand what is meant by “[…] to be representative of the specific years’ expedition […] ”. I think it becomes clear later in the text but could be elaborated a bit here.
Table 2: In the *) lines: I think it should be 2019.8.31 – 9.3 (not 3.9)
Figure 3: I don’t understand why there are two different image sources Bing and Maxar?
215: I think the word “diminishing” suggest a trend, but there are too few years of observation to say anything about highly variable snow cover.
Figure 4: The y-axis should state that it is a retreat from the first observation, this should also be made clear in the figure text.
221-236: Consider putting this information into a table?
Table 4: please describe in details in the caption what is GPC and CP
Figure 5: As far as I am aware Open Street Map is vector maps only and they do not offer any satellite images, so I wonder what is the source of the background image?
266: If you used the same GPS as was used to outline the terminus area, you stated that there is an accuracy of 5 to 10 m, then these changes are so close to the accuracy limit that maybe it is not correct to conclude anything? Maybe there are some arguments to be stated to prove me wrong.
Line 267: bottom -> terminus?
298-299: Maybe add a few words about the expected temperature increase due to normal lapse rates, but for sure also keep the point about the local temperature being affected by other things than just elevation.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-609-RC2
Data sets
Data for manuscript: "Atmospheric and cryospheric observations at the high-altitude Zarafshon River Basin and the hydrographic party glacier (GGP), Tajikistan" J. Svensson et al. https://doi.org/10.57707/fmi-b2share.t4vwg-gf542
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