State of rock glaciers in the Rushan Range of Tajikistan, Western Pamir

Rock glaciers are climatically more resistant than glaciers and contain valuable water volume equivalents. Rock glaciers are widespread in the Rushan Range of Tajikistan, Western Pamir, but have not been systematically investigated, and thus their climatical significance versus glaciers is unknown. Here we present the first systematic assessment of active and inactive rock glaciers of Rushan, based on the combination of SAR interferometry from Sentinel 1 and optical images from Google Earth, totaling more than 600 landforms with an area coverage of ~160 km². Supported by ArcGIS, we extracted and calculated morphometric parameters of these rock glaciers, found that the distribution of rock glaciers in the western Rushan is significantly different from those located in the eastern part, and analyzed the lowest altitudinal limit for the presence of permafrost in Rushan Range from active rock glacier locations. This study provides an important dataset for understanding the sustainability of rock glaciers in Western Pamir.