To issue of gorges and ice jams in the Kuban river basin
Purpose: analysis of quantitative indicators of actual сongestion and ice jams in the Kuban river basin with subsequent intra-basin zoning of the parameters studied. Materials and Methods: data from hydrometeorological observations of ice phenomena were used. The summary calculation of the quantitative indicators of gorges and ice jams along the river Kuban, as well as for each basin of tributaries of the first order was carried out. Results: as a result of the analysis, it was found that the cases of maximum ice jams above the “0” graph in the river Kuban basin were observed more often than the maximum gorge rises. On the river Kuban the number of jams was 90, gorges – 64; in the river Belaya basin number of jamming phenomena was 96, gorges – 9; in the river Laba basin – 43 ice jams and 18 gorges; on the river Pshish the number of jams – 31, gorges – 6; in the river basin Urup the number of jams is 10, and the number of gorges is 20; the river Bolshoi Zelenchuk basin has 25 jams, and 5 gorges. The maximum rise in the water level during jams was 248 cm on the river Pshish at the Bzhedukhovskaya gauging station. The highest water level during gorge events was also recorded on the river Pshish in the aul Teuchezhkhabl and amounted to 386 cm. Most of the recorded cases of water level rise in the presence of gorge phenomena occur at the end of December and the second decade of February. There are no observational series of gorge events at most gauging stations, but, according to available data, most gorge events occur at the end of January and the second decade of February. Conclusions: gorges and ice jams are very dangerous natural phenomena and therefore require promptness and accuracy of forecasting. The solution of such problems is impossible without a network of hydrological posts and observation points, which is currently underdeveloped. Therefore, thickening and improving the existing observational network is one of the main solutions to this issue.