| Introduction The start-up project
workshop took place in Moscow and in the Central
Caucasus. The workshop objectives were:
i. discussion
of the project implementation plans, joint
publications, collaboration between project
participants
ii. inspection of the areas of future
fieldwork
iii. meetings with end-users
Workshop location
map is shown below (click on the map to enlarge).
Locations
and itineraries of the start-up workshop on 26
November 8 December 2006.
Workshop
participants
- Professor
Stephen Evans, NPD (University of
Waterloo, Canada);
- Dr Sergey
Chernomorets, PPD; Dr Olga Tutubalina;
Valery Drobyshev; Inna Krylenko;
Marina Shakhmina (University Centre
for Engineering Geodynamics and
Monitoring, Moscow, Russia);
- Dr Dmitry
Petrakov, Partner country Co-Director
(Department of Glaciology and
Cryolithology, Faculty of Geography,
Moscow State University).
Discussions with
NATO country Co-Director Professor Oldrich Hungr
(University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada) were held trough electronic mail, as well
as by phone after the workshop.
Olga
Tutubalina, Sergey Chernomorets and Dmitry
Petrakov before meeting at Moscow State
University.
Meetings
with end-users
- Vladikavkaz.
In the Main office of the Russian
Ministry for Emergencies and Disaster
Mitigation (Emercom) in the
Republic of North Ossetia-Alania meetings
were held with Colonel Victor Kostarnov,
the Acting Head of the office, and
Vsevolod Adtseev, Head of the Monitoring
and Forecast Centre of the same office.
Evans, Chernomorets and Tutubalina
accepted the invitation of the Emercom in
the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania to
become members of the Advisory Committee
on Prevention of Natural Disasters to Emercom.
In the Subsoil Resources Management
Territorial Agency (Sevosetinnedra)
of the Russian Ministry of Natural
Resources in the Republic of North
Ossetia-Alania meetings were held with Dr
Alexander Polkvoy, the Head of the Agency
and with his deputy Anatoly Misetov.
- Pyatigorsk.
Two meetings were arranged with
Konstantin Nosov, General Director of the
North Caucasian Engineering and Design
Institute for Water Industry and Land
Reclamation (Sevkavgiprovodkhoz).
There were more
meetings aimed at widening the circle of
potential end-users.
Field
trips
A one-day field
trip in the North Ossetia-Alania covered part of
Fiagdon and Gizeldon/Genaldon river valleys.
Participants saw part of the Genaldon glacier
disaster zone; equipment, installed above the
Genaldon river to monitor the state of the river
channel. The trip also included a visit to the
monument dedicated to those killed in the glacier
disaster in 2002. During the three-day trip to
Kabardino-Balkariya, Evans, Chernomorets and
Tutubalina visited natural hazard sites in the
Baksan River valley, including areas of glacial
debris flows, snow avalanches and rock avalanches.
They have also met Dr Mukhtar Khadzhiev, a
representative of the Debris Flow Association in
the Elbrus region of the Kabardino-Balkarian
Republic. Results of field trips will be used to
plan field expedition in summer 2007. Transport
for the field trips was kindly provided by the
end-users (Sevosetinnedra and Sevkavgiprovodkhoz).
Project
management
During the
workshop we discussed preparation of project
reports and financial documentation. Workshop
participants exchanged materials on glacier
hazard in the Caucasus and in the world,
including field photographs, articles and
monographs.
A further joint workshop with Prof Evans is
planned for February 2007 in Moscow.
Student
presentation
On 27 November
2006 students writing dissertations on the topics
connected with this project made short
presentations about their work for Prof Evans.
This session took place at Moscow State
University. It is planned to officially include
the most active students in the Russian project
teams.
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Student
presentation on 27 November 2006.
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Project
website
Before the start
of the workshop Dr Sergey Chernomorets
administered creation of the project website at http://glacier-hazard.narod.ru/sfp.htm. Workshop participants
discussed content which should be added to the
website.
Publications,
fieldwork and conferences
Joint article
about the 2002 Kolka Glacier disaster has been
finished during the workshop.
Three abstracts have been submitted to the 2nd
Alexander von Humboldt International Conference
on the Role of Geophysics in Natural Disaster
Prevention (05 09 March 2007, Lima,
Peru). Project teams will take part in the
conference, and after the conference they plan a
joint field trip to the sites of glacier
disasters in Cordillera Blanca.
In summer 2007 a large field expedition
is planned in the Central Caucasus.
It is hoped that Evans will join this fieldwork
in August-September 2007.
Project participants will also present at the 4th
International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards
Mitigation: Mechanics, Prediction, and Assessment
(10-13 September 2007, Chengdu, China). Three
articles have been already submitted to the
organising Committee.
From no later than 18 September 2007 the Russian
project participants will start their field
training visit to Canada. The goal of
this training is to learn state-of-the art field
research and field survey techniques. Field part
of the visit will take place in the area of Lake
Melbern in the St Elias Mountains. At the
University of British Columbia in Vancouver
Russian participants will get familiar with state-of-the-art
techniques for modelling rapid glacier/debris
flows. The training visit will continue until 9
October 2007.
Russian participants are also co-organising an International
Conference on Debris flows: disasters, risk,
forecast, protection in Pyatigorsk,
Russia, on 22-29 September 2008. Evans accepted
the invitation to become a member of an
International Advisory Committee of this
conference; outcomes of the field trip to the
Baksan River valley in December 2007 will be used
for planning the conference field trip.
Another idea born during the start-up workshop
was to organise a NATO Advanced Research
Workshop (ARW) on Glacier Hazards: Assessment and
Risk Mitigation in September 2008.
Konstantin
Nosov showing the conference hall of the Sevkavgiprovodkhoz
Institute to workshop participants. It is planned
to use this 250-seat hall for plenary sessions of
the International Conference on Debris flows:
disasters, risk, forecast, protection in 2008.
Pyatigorsk, 4 December 2006.
Collaboration
In the end of the
start-up workshop the participants prepared the
Elbrus Memorandum which outlined future plans for
collaboration.
Follow-up
discussion with Prof Oldrich Hungr
Due to lecturing
commitments, Prof Oldrich Hungr (the NATO Country
Co-Director) was not able to take part in the
workshop in person. However, a detailed post-workshop
telephone discussion between Dr Tutubalina and
Prof Hungr was arranged on 15 December 2006. The
discussion included plans for further joint
publications on glacier hazards. Prof Hungr has
confirmed his readiness to meet Russian visitors
in Vancouver in early October 2007. Participation
of Prof Hungr in fieldwork and dates of his visit
to Russia will be discussed later.
Moscow,
December 2006.
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