One of the largest glaciers in Russia’s Urals region has completely melted, according to members of a research group that carried out an expedition.
The glacier known as MGU, which was 2.2 kilometers long when it was discovered in 1953, has vanished, the researchers from the Scientific Center for Arctic Studies said in an August 31 statement.
The researchers carried out their expedition from August 19 to August 28 and visited the sites of two other glaciers.
MGU was the second largest glacier by mass in the Urals polar region and its longest when it was initially discovered.
Mikhail Ivanov, one of the scientists, said a “large amount” of ice still existed when they last visited MGU in 2010.
Parts of the iceberg were still visible in photographs taken by tourists to the area in recent years, he said.
“This year, it turned out, it completely melted,” Ivanov said.
Russia’s Urals and Siberian regions have experienced unusually high temperatures in recent years that have been blamed on global warming.