摘要
The photo on the cover is of the upper reaches of the Aktru River basin located in the south-eastern part of the Altai Republic of the Russian Federation close to the borders to Mongolia and China in the centre of the Eurasian Continent (50°06’03"N,87°40’14"E).The peak in the background is called’Black Mountain’(Karatash in Russian) and reaches an altitude of 3,534 m.a.s.l.This mountain separates the Maliy AktrLI glacier to the left and Bolshoy glaciers to the right.The Maliy glacier has experienced extremely rapid rates of glacier retreat since measurements began in the 1950s.
