TATRA MOUNTAINS

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

Contents

Description

Landscape

Climate

Winds

Temperature

Precipitation

Snow cover

Flora

Fauna

Human involvement

Mountain peaks

Bibliography

External links

Commercial tourism-oriented websites

Mountaineering

Photography

Description

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:

★ Western Tatras (Slovak: ''Západné Tatry'', Polish: ''Tatry Zachodnie'')

★ Eastern Tatras (''Východné Tatry'', ''Tatry Wschodnie''), which consists of:

★
★ High Tatras (''Vysoké Tatry'', ''Tatry Wysokie'')

★
★ 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.

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.

Landscape

The Tatra Mountains (especially the High Tatras) are known to have undergone four glaciations. The most extensive transformations were caused by a glacier 100-230 m thick; the most apparent features of this process are the numerous cirques and mountain lakes. The mountains were shaped by glacial erosion, which formed many alpine cliffs, some up to 1,000 m high.

Climate

The Mountains lie in the temperate zone of Central Europe. They are an important barrier to the movements of air masses. Their mountainous topography causes the most diverse climate in that region.
The effects of global warming in the Tatra Mountains started to be visible around the 1980s.

Winds

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

★ southerly winds on the northern side

★ westerly winds at the base of Tatra (Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin)

★ foehn winds (Polish: halny) most often occur between October and May. They are warm and dry and could cause extensive damage.

Temperature

Temperatures range from -40 °C in the winter to 33 °C in warmer months. Temperatures also vary depending on altitude and sun exposure of a given slope.
Temperatures below 0 °C last for 192 days on the summits.

Precipitation

Highest precipitation figures are recorded on northern slopes. In June and July monthly precipitation reaches around 250 mm. Precipitation occurs for 215 to 228 days a year. Thunderstorms occur 36 days a year on average.

Snow cover

Maximum thickness on the summit amounts to around 320 cm in March. Peaks are sometimes covered with snow throughout the year. Avalanches are frequent.

Flora

The Mountains have a diverse variety of plants. They are home to more than 1,000 vascular plants, about 450 mosses, 200 hepatics, 700 lichens, 900 fungi, and 70 slime moulds.
There are five climatic-vegetation belts in Tatras:
The distribution of plants depends on altitude:

★ up to 1,300 m: Carpathian beech forest; almost no shrub layer, herb layer occupies most of the forest floor

★ to 1,550 m: Spruce forest; shrub layer poorly developed, mosses are a major component

★ to 1,800 m: Mountain Pine, numerous herbs

★ to 2,300 m: high altitude grasslands

★ from 2,300m up: Subnivean - bare rock and almost no vegetation (mostly lichens)

Fauna

The Tatra Mountains are home to a lot of species of animals: 54 tardigrades, 22 turbellarians, 100 rotifers, 22 copepods, 162 spiders, 81 molluscs, 43 mammals, 200 birds, 7 amphibians and 2 reptiles.
The most notable mammals are the Tatra chamois, marmot, snow vole, brown bear, wolf, Eurasian lynx, red deer, roe deer, and wild boar. Notable fish include the brook trout and alpine bullhead.
The endemic species include the caddis fly, spider ''Xysticus alpicola'' and wingless springtail.

Human involvement

The Tatra Mountains were used in the 18th and 19th centuries for sheep grazing and mining and a lot of trees were cut down to make way for human exploitation. Although these activities were stopped, the impact is still clearly visible. Moreover, there are new problems. Pollution from the industrialized regions of Kraków, Ostrava and Orava and uncontrolled tourism are damaging the mountains.
The Slovak Tatra National Park (''Tatranský národný park''; TANAP) 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, large parts of the forests in the southern part of the High Tatras were damaged by a strong wind storm. 3 million cubic metre of trees were uprooted, two people died and several villages were totally cut off. Further damage was done by a subsequent forest fire, and it will take many years until the local ecology is fully recovered.

Mountain peaks

:In Eastern Tatras:

★ Gerlachovský štít - 2654 m. (Slovakia)

★ Lomnický štít - 2634 m. (Slovakia)

★ Rysy - 2503 m. (Slovakia/Poland)

★ Kriváň - 2495 m. (Slovakia)

★ Slavkovsky štít - 2452 m. (Slovakia)

★ Svinica - 2301 m. (Slovakia/Poland)

★ Široká - 2210 m. (Slovakia)

★ Havran - 2151 m. (Slovakia)

★ Veľká kopa - 2052 m. (Slovakia)

★ Kasprowy Wierch - 1987 m. (Slovakia/Poland)

★ Brestová - 1934 m. (Slovakia)

★ Sivý vrch - 1809 m. (Slovakia)

★ Osobita - 1687 m. (Slovakia)
:In Western Tatras:

★ Bystrá - 2248 m. (Slovakia)

★ Baranec - 2184 m. (Slovakia)

★ Banikov/Banówka - 2178 m. (Slovakia)

★ Klin/Starobociański Wierch - 2176 m. (Slovakia/Poland)

★ Volovec - 2064 m. (Slovakia/Poland)

★ Giewont - 1894 m. (Poland)

Bibliography

Ján Lacika, ''Tatras'' (2nd edition), Bratislava 2006. ISBN 80-88975-95-6

External links

★ Town of Vysoké Tatry - municipal website

★ Zakopane - municipal website

★ TANAP - Slovak Tatra National Park

★ TPN - Polish Tatra National Park

Commercial tourism-oriented websites

★ Tatry.cz -travel guide (mainly Slovak side)

★ Go-Zakopane.com - travel guide (mainly Polish side)

Mountaineering

★ Tatry on ogdos.com - mountaineer's notes

Photography

★ Atypical images of the Tatras

★ Spherical panoramas

★ Panoramic view from Rysy (2499m)