Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2017, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 128-135
The softening of climate aridity of Volga Steppe in 2000–2007 as derived from satellite data
A.N. Zolotokrylin
1 , T.B. Titkova
1 1 Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 20.11.2017
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2017-14-7-128-135
The climate of the Volga Steppe is characterized by a decrease in the moisture supply in the south-east direction for the life activity of the population and is estimated as a transition from favorable to less favorable. The climatic changes in the Volga Steppe are analyzed as a reaction to external influences, such as solar radiation and precipitation. Evapotranspiration is regarded as a result of this external influence, and its reduction may be indicative of the size of the increase in aridity of the climate. The monthly amounts of evapotranspiration (ET16) for May-August 2000–2014 are analyzed in comparison with the station monthly precipitation sums, the average monthly satellite surface radiation balance, surface temperature (MODIS). In the Volga Steppe, which is well known for its extreme aridity, the formation of two regimes of summer evapotranspiration, increased and reduced, could be presented on condition of certain moisture storage in soil caused by occasional intense precipitation. These regimes are used to classify the arid climate of the province into a low (2000–2007) and high (2008–2014). In the period 2000–2007, there was a softening of the severe aridity of the climate as a result of an increase in the cost of radiation balance for evapotranspiration and, accordingly, a decrease in turbulent warming of the atmospheric boundary layer.
Keywords: aridity, evapotranspiration, precipitation, radiation balance
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