Öztürk, Muhammed ZeynelTaşoğlu, Enes2024-11-072024-11-0720242661-863Xhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s42990-024-00115-9https://hdl.handle.net/11480/11609Although alpine periglacial studies in Anatolia date back to the 1950s, the distribution of periglacial areas and their general characteristics are poorly known. At present, geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies facilitate the identification of permafrost and periglacial features. In this study, alpine periglacial zones of Anatolia were identified and classified using data on mean annual temperature, Köppen-Geiger climate type, number of snow-covered months, land cover, and terrain classification data, employing Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The periglacial regions in Anatolia are classified into three zones, namely weak, moderate, and severe, based on the coefficient value. Our results indicate that periglacial areas cover 92,362 km2, corresponding to 11% area of Türkiye. Most periglacial regions are in the weak periglacial zone, while only 2% are in the moderate and severe periglacial zones. Periglacial areas are commonly observed between 1750 and 3500 m, and their severity increases with elevation. The mean elevations of weak, moderate, and severe periglacial zones are 2200 m, 2600 m, and 3000 m, respectively. The severe periglacial zones correspond to the summits of high mountains where Quaternary glaciations occurred. The average temperatures of the periglacial zones decrease with the severity of the zones. The annual average temperature of 5.6 °C in the weak periglacial zones decreases to 2.4 °C in the moderate periglacial zones and 0.6 °C in the severe periglacial zones. Total annual precipitation and the number of months with snow cover increase from weak to severe periglacial zones. Weak periglacial zones are snow-covered for an average of 3.3 months per year, while moderate and severe periglacial zones are snow-covered for an average of 5 months and 6.4 months per year, respectively. This study suggests that global datasets can be used to effectively identify alpine periglacial zones in Anatolia, taking into account the characteristics of known periglacial areas. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessAnatoliaDataPeriglacial zonesSpatial distributionTurkeyTürkiyeArticle10.1007/s42990-024-00115-92-s2.0-85189038142N/A