Researches of Field Evidence for Late Quaternary Climate Changes in the Highest Mountains of Bulgaria - Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions: Southeastern Europe - page 150

mountain, Vihren area in Pirin mountain, Livingston island in the Antarctic, where
Bulgarian Antarctic base is operating, and Spitzbergen island in the Arctic (Stefanov
et al., 2003 ). The project was performed in 2004-2007, and due to the severely
restricted funding by the Ministry of Education's Council for scientific research,
project activities were carried out to a very limited extent and were concentrated
only in the areas of Musala and Vihren peaks. According to the treaty for collabora-
tion signed between INRNE and the Institute of Geography, all research activities in
Musala area have become part of BEOMusala's observation of terrestrial processes.
Activities under this particular project included measurements of water chemistry of
Musala lakes, detailed environmental mapping in GIS of Musala cirque, setting up
of polygons for monitoring of weathering and slope denudation (solifluction).
An important step forward was the incorporation of Bulgarian researches of
high-mountain geomorphic processes to the global networks of the International
Association of Geomorphologists (IAG/AIG). The research team from the Institute
of Geography was accepted to participate in the global network SEDIFLUX (sed-
iment source-to-sink fluxes in cold environments). The network aimed to establish
a worldwide observation and quantitative measurements of contemporary geomor-
phic processes in Earth's high latitudes and high altitudes in order to evaluate current
climate fluctuations and trends.
At the fourth science meeting of SEDIFLUX in Trondheim (Norway) in 2006,
the Institute successfully promoted Musala area (the upper parts of Musala and
Maritsa cirques) to be included in the global network for research of present sedi-
ment transfer processes in cold environments that should be built up in 2009-2012
under the coordination of the newly established IAG/AIG workgroup SEDIBUD
(Sediment budgets in cold environments). Now Musala area is one of the several
high-altitude and high-latitude key test sites worldwide (Fig. 12.6 ), which should
contribute to a special Global change database for cold environments and where
observations should be performed following a unified methodology according to the
commonly approved SEDIFLUX Manual (Beylich and Warburton, 2007 ). Musala
area is the only place in Southeastern Europe that is included in SEDIBUD net-
work of test sites. For now all sites included in the network should find funding for
research by themselves. In present conditions this is still a difficult task, so research
comes still in an insufficient rate.
In Pirin, activities under “Models of

...

” project comprised chemistry measure-
ment of karst spring waters, fieldwork in Golemia Kazan cirque (detailed landscape
and land cover mapping in GIS, size measurements of Snezhnika perennial snow
patch, setting up of transects for measurement of gravity denudation - see Fig. 12.8 )
and an expedition in Banski Suhodol cirque in order to assess potential for future
research.
The perimeter measurement of Snezhnika, made on 14 October 2008 showed sur-
face area of 0.44 ha. Compared to results obtained from the previous researches this
value is close to the minimum size ever measured (0.4 ha in 1994 by the scientists
from Dresden), which is considered to be a result mainly of the fewer precipita-
tion in the preceding 2-year period (2007-2008). However, this measurement was
done in October, which should probably address it as little below 0.5 ha if related