Tatra mountains

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Tatras

The Tatra mountains, Tatras or Tatra (Tatry in both Polish and Slovak), constitute a mountain range which forms a natural border between Poland and Slovakia. They occupy an area of 750km², the major part (600km²) of which lies in Slovakia. The highest Tatra peak, at 2655m, is Gerlachovský štít, (formerly Franz Joseph Peak), located in Slovakia. Rysy, at 2499m, is the highest Polish peak. The Tatra Mountains are the highest mountain massif of the Carpathian Mountains. Although considerably smaller than Alps, they are classified as having an alpine landscape. Their high-mountain character, combined with great accessibility, makes them an object of numerous studies.

1 Description
2 Landscape
3 Climate
4 Flora
5 Fauna
6 Human involvement
7 Mountain peaks
8 Bibliography
9 External links

The area is a well-known winter sports area, with resorts such as Poprad and the town (Mesto) Vysoké Tatry in Slovakia (in English literally (Town of the) High Tatras; created in 1999 and including the former separate resorts Štrbské Pleso, Starý Smokovec, and Tatranská Lomnica), and Zakopane, the "Winter Capital" of Poland.

The Tatras consist of the Western Tatras (Slovak: Západné Tatry, Polish: Tatry Zachodnie) and the Eastern Tatras (Východné Tatry, Tatry Wschodnie). The Eastern Tatras, in turn, consists of the High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry, Tatry Wysokie) and the Belianske Tatras (Belianske Tatry, Tatry Bielskie). The High Tatras, with their 24 (or 25) peaks over 2500m above sea level, are, together with the Southern Carpathians, the only mountain ranges with an Alpine character in the whole 1200km length of the Carpathian Mountain range.

Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras, Slovakia

The Tatras should be distinguished from another Slovak mountain range, the Low Tatras (in Slovak Nízke Tatry), situated south of the Tatras. Sometimes, however, the term 'Tatras' is used freely to refer to both the Tatras and the Low Tatras.

Tatra Mountains (especially the High Tatra Mountains) are known to have undergone four glaciations. The most extensive transformations were brought about by a glacier 100-230m thick; the most apparent features of this process are the numerous cirques, especially in Poland, and the lakes they often contain (some up to 79m deep). The mountains were shaped by glacial erosion which left behind tall (up to 1,000m) alpine cliffs.

Tatra Mountains lie in the temperate region of Central Europe. They are an important barrier to the movements of air masses. Their mountainous topography gives rise to the most diversified climate of that region.

The average annual wind on the summits is 6m/s.

southerly winds on the northern side
westerly winds at the base of Tatra (Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin)
Foehn winds, also known as almwinds (halny), most often occur during the period between October and May. They are warm, dry and or more and cause extensive damage.

The temperatures may range from -40C in the winter to 33C in the warmer months. The temperatures vary widely with the hight and the amount of sun exposure of a given slope, yet the higiest peaks usually remain cool. Thermic winter (below 0C)lasts 192 days at the summits. Thermic summer occurs only at the foot of the Tatra (up to 800m), while the growing season lasts 140 days at 1,600m.

Highiest amounts of rainfall fall on the northern slopes. In June and July monthly precipitation reaches to around 250 mm. Winters are relatively drier. There are around 215-228 days of precipitation per year. Downpours play a major part in shaping Tatras. Thunderstorms are quite frequent (around 36 days/year).

Maximum thickness at the summit amounts to around 320 cm in March. Peaks are sometimes covered by snow even in the summer while large snow patches remain throughout the year. Avalanches are often a great threat to tourists.

The effects of global warming in the Tatra mountains began to become visible around the 1980s.

Tatra Mountains are rich in flora. They house more than 1,000 vascular plant species, about 450 moses, 200 hepatiques, 700 lichens, 900 champignons, 70 myxomycetes and 1,000 algar (Zbigniew Mirek; Halina Piekos-Mirkowa). There are five climatic-vegetation belts in Tatras:

up to 1,300m- the lower montane (Carpathian beech forest; almost no shrub layer, herb layer occupies most forest floor)
to 1,550m- the upper montane (Spruce forest; shrub layer poorly developed, mosses are a major component)
to 1,800m- dwarf pine (primarily Pinetum mughi carpaticum, numerous herbs)
to 2,300m- alpine (high altitude grasslands)
from 2,300m up- subnival (bare rock and almost no vegetation- mostly lichens)

Tatra Mountains are a home to many species of animals (54 of tardigrades, 22 of turbellarians, 100 of rotifers, 22 of copepods, 162 of spiders, 81 of molussks, 43 mammals, 200 of birds, 2 of reptiles, 7 of amphibians). The most natable of animals are the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), the marmot (Marmota marmota), the snow vole (Microtus nivalis mirhanreini), the brown bear (Ursus arctos), the wolf (Canis lupus), the lynx (Lynx lynx), the red deer (Cercus elaphus), the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and the wild boar (Sus scrofa). The two more notable fish species are the brook trout (Salmo trulla) and the alpine bullhead (Cottus poecilobus). The endemic taxa include the caddis fly, spider Xysticus alpicola, tardigrades Pseudechiniscus ocullus, Itaquascon pawlowskii, and the wingless springtail.

The Tatra Mountains were used in the 18th and 19th centuries as lands for sheep grazing and mining- many regions were cut down to make way for human exploitation. Although these no longer continue today, the result of the abuse of the forests is still clearly visible. Moreover, there are new problems at hand. Pollution and the development of tourism is slowly swallowing the not too long ago virgin areas of the Tatras. The Slovak Tatra National Park (TANAP, Tatranský národný park) was founded in 1949, and the contiguous Polish Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy) was founded in 1954. Both areas were added to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve list in 1993.

On 19 November 2004, a great portion of the forest in the southern part of the High Tatras was damaged by a wind blast of more than 100 mph. Three million cubic metres of wood were uprooted, 2 people died, and many villages in the High Tatras were cut off from the rest of the world. More damage was done by a subsequent forest fire, and the local ecology will take many years to recover fully.