Geographia Polonica

Geographia Polonica has been published since 1964; in the years 1964–1998 as a serial publication. Since 1999 – as a journal with two issues per year (Spring and Autumn), and since 2012 there are four issues per year (March, July, October, December). Contributions to the journal on both human and physical geography topics as well as related fields (e.g. urban and regional planning, ecology) should be submitted to the Editor. Papers dealing with Central and Eastern Europe are particularly welcomed.


Papers are published on the open Internet under a Creative Common Attribution CC BY 4.0 licence tl_files/igipz/wydawnictwa/otwarty_dostep.pngwithout embargo period.

The full content of the licence is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authors have the copyrights and full publishing rights without restrictions.

News

Spatial conditioning and consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic

Articles that were submitted to the call for papers concerning Spatial conditioning and consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. An Opening Report were published in the Volume 94, Issue 3 / 2021 and are available here.

Read more …

Current Issue

Geographia Polonica

Articles

Jaskinia Lodowa w Ciemniaku (Ice Cave in Ciemniak), Western Tatra, Poland - over a century-long investigations of climate warming-caused degradation of subterranean ice mass

Jan Barabach, Witold Szczuciński, Ditta Kicińska, Zuzanna Palińska, Grzegorz Rachlewicz

Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 4, pp. 405-430 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0262

Further information

Abstract

Jaskinia Lodowa w Ciemniaku (Ice Cave in Ciemniak), in the Tatra Mountains (Tatry), is believed to host the largest subterranean ice mass in Poland. It has been known for over a century, however, the onset of its scientific investigations dates back to 1922, when Tadeusz and Stefan Zwoliński mapped it. Since then, it has become one of the best-known caves in Poland. It was described in over a hundred scientific and popular science papers. They include findings of international importance, e.g. works related to radioisotopes, ice-mass balance and age. However, some of the questions asked a century ago are still partly unanswered. One may wonder if they will be delivered before climate warming causes the largest ‘cave glacier’ in Poland to disappear.

Keywords: Speleology, cryosphere, Western Tatras, history of cave research, ice cave, climate change

Jan Barabach [jan.barabach@up.poznan.pl], Department of Land Improvement, Environmental Development and Spatial Management Poznań University of Life Sciences Piątkowska 94E, 60-649 Poznań: Poland
Witold Szczuciński [witek@amu.edu.pl], Geohazards Research Unit, Institute of Geology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Bogumiła Krygowskiego 12, 61-680 Poznań Poland
Ditta Kicińska [ditta.kicinska@amu.edu.pl], Department of Dynamic Geology and Applied Petrography, Institute of Geology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Bogumiła Krygowskiego 12, 61-680 Poznań: Poland
Zuzanna Palińska [zuzannapalinska@gmail.com], Cryosphere Research Unit, Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Bogumiła Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań: Poland
Grzegorz Rachlewicz [rzera@amu.edu.pl], Geohazards Research Unit, Institute of Geology Adam Mickiewicz University Bogumiła Krygowskiego 12, 61-680 Poznań Poland

Changes in the physiognomy of the archaeological landscape - learning from the past to build the future (with prehistorical burial sites in Poland as an example)

Anna Żemła-Siesicka

Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 4, pp. 431-457 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0263

Further information

Abstract

The aims of this research were to identify the key processes that have occurred in the past that have caused changes in the physiognomy of archaeological landscape and to indicate possible future processes, along with their landscape implications. The study was based on cartographic and literature studies, and field visits. It covered an analysis of the land cover, the history of archaeological research, the establishment of forms of legal protection and tourist infrastructure development. The past changes are visualised for each site in theform of a block graph. Possible future scenarios with landscape implications are presented on a tree diagram.

Keywords: archaeological landscape, life-history of the archaeological landscape, landscape physiognomy, processes of landscape change, landscape scenarios

Anna Żemła-Siesicka [anna.zemla-siesicka@us.edu.pl], Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Silesia Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland

Thermal regime of the Vistula River mouth and the Gdańsk Bay

Renata Graf, Viktor Vyshnevskyi

Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 4, pp. 459-471 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0264

Further information

Abstract

Surface water temperature characteristics of the Vistula River mouth and the Gdańsk Bay were determined on the basis of available observations, remote sensing and hydrodynamic models. The water temperature in the Vistula River and the Gdańsk Bay was found to be much higher than the air temperature. In recent decades, the water temperature in the Vistula River mouth and the Gdańsk Bay has increased significantly. It hasbeen determined that water temperature in the bay is affected not only by air temperature, but also by water discharge of the Vistula River and wind

Keywords: water temperature, air temperature, remote sensing, coastal zone, the Baltic Sea

Renata Graf [rengraf@amu.edu.], Department of Hydrology and Water Management Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Bogumiła Krygowskiego 10 str., 61-680, Poznań: Poland
Viktor Vyshnevskyi [vishnev.v@gmail.com], National Aviation University 1, Liubomyra Huzara Ave., 03058, Kyiv: Ukraine

Transformation of treeless depression wetlands in Central Europe over the last 100 years: Włoszczowa Basin (southern Poland) case study

Artur Szymczyk, Małgorzata Nita

Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 4, pp. 473-491 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0265

Further information

Abstract

Historical changes in land use and development over the last century were analysed to identify the main causes and directions of changes in depression wetland ecosystems in the Włoszczowa Basin, an area of 1600 km2 in southern Poland. The analysis of Military Cartographic Institute maps and orthophotomaps, as well as field surveys, made it possible to determine the scale of degradation of 247 treeless depression wetlands. It was shown that the nature and extent of transformation of individual wetlands varied depending on the type of wetland and the method of land use in adjacent areas. However, the main anthropogenic factor affecting these changes was land drainage, of which the greatest intensity in Central Europe was pursued during the socialist rule between 1945 and 1989.

Keywords: wetlands, degradation, agriculture, drainage, Central Europe

Artur Szymczyk [artur.szymczyk@us.edu.pl], Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences University of Silesia in Katowice Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
Małgorzata Nita [malgorzata.nita@us.edu.pl], Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences University of Silesia in Katowice Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland