Dynamics of Mountain Landscapes of the North Caucasus under Modern Climate Change and Increased Anthropogenic Impact

The results of the analysis of multi-year satellite images and long-term field studies of landscape dynamics in different high mountain regions of the North Caucasus are presented. Based on Landsat Analysis Ready Data processing for the 2000–2020 period and geoinformation modeling, the main changes in nival-glacial and forest landscapes have been established. A decrease in the area of snow-glacier complexes was noted (on average by 20.6%) with the largest decrease in the Eastern Caucasus (75.2%) and the smallest in the Central Caucasus (13.4%). Repeated complex descriptions in key areas confirmed the revealed changes, as well as the rise of the border of mountain-meadow landscapes and the heterogeneity of their spatial structure in the periglacial zone as a result of climatic f luctuations. Multidirectional trends in the dynamics of mountain-forest landscapes are manifested in the deterioration of the state, including the drying up of dark coniferous forests and the reduction in their area in the Western Caucasus (Teberda River basin), in the rise of the border and the increase in the area of light coniferous forests in the Eastern Caucasus (Makazhoy depression), mainly beyond due to the weakening in previous years of anthropogenic impact. In the Central Caucasus (Elbrus region), some expansion of forests was noted at the upper border of the forest belt along the bottom of river valleys, in some places on the slopes of the southern points, a decrease in areas of large avalanches and mudf lows, including as a result of outbursts of near-glacial lakes. The metachronism of the manifestation of exogenous processes and their spatial heterogeneity leads to the complication of the landscape structure of the zones of their influence due to the combination of elementary landscapes that are at different stages of restoration successions. The increased recreational impact on the mid-mountain and high-mountain landscapes of the Western and Central Caucasus caused the change in the spatial structure of landscapes, especially mountain-forest and subalpine meadows, a decrease in their biodiversity, and an increase in the proportion of anthropogenic complexes in the most valuable landscapes in protected areas.

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