A link between winter precipitation in Europe and the Arctic Sea ice,sea surface temperature,and atmospheric circulation

The spatial and temporal pattern of the link between the winter precipitation variability and variations in the North Atlantic sea surface temperature, the Arctic sea ice concentration, and 500 hPa geopotential height in the Northern Hemisphere is analyzed for the period of 1952-2012. The analysis reveals two principal modes of covariability in the analyzed characteristics. The first mode which explains the most part of covariability, is related to the impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation. The second mode indicates the significant contribution of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation associated with winter precipitation anomalies of the same sign in Europe with the maxima on the East European Plain and in the Balkan region during the positive phase of AMO.     

Weather and Climate Anomalies in Russian Regions Related to Global Climate Change

Possible mechanisms for the formation of significant weather and climate anomalies in Russia in recent years and their relation to global climate change and natural quasicyclic processes are discussed. Extreme Russian heat wave in 2010, the Amur River flood in 2013, and extreme cold winters are analyzed. All these events were associated with the formation of long-lived blocking anticyclones whose frequency increase can be expected under conditions of global warming. To link such events with the global warming, the effects related to regional and global climatically significant natuial quasicyclic processes should be taken into account. They include the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and El Niño—Southern Oscillation.     

On the equilibrium nature of the rotational temperature of hydroxyl airglow

The rotational temperature of the hydroxyl at Zvenigorod almost reflects the actual temperature of the environment.     

Deep structure of the transition zone from the Baltic shield to the Barents Sea basin based on seismic data

Results of the analysis and interpretation of the records of 17 ocean bottom seismometers designed at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (a three-component geophone and a hydrophone), installed with an interval of 10–20 km along a profile in the transition zone from the Baltic shield to the Barents Sea basin are presented. The studies were carried out in 1995 from R/V Professor Kurentsov. An air gun with a chamber volume of 80 1 was used as the source of seismic waves with a shooting interval of 250 m. The longest range of records of deep refracted and wide-angle reflected waves (up to 300 km) was reached with the hydrophones. Two-dimensional seismic modeling allowed us to refine the earlier versions of the seismic cross section of the earth’s crust and uppermost mantle in the study region. New data confirmed that, in the central area of the Barents Sea, the “granitic-metamorphic” layer of the crust with a seismic velocity of 6.2 km/s typical of the Baltic Shield is absent. In this region, a thin consolidated crust with a seismic velocity of 6.8 km/s is covered with a thick (more than 25 km) sedimentary layer. In this layer, a local low-velocity zone probably exists, which causes a strong attenuation of the “crustal” waves.     

Monsoon circulation over the Amur River basin during catastrophic flood and extreme drought in summer

Two opposite Far East monsoon summer seasons over the Amur River basin are investigated which caused the extreme drought and fires in 2008 and catastrophic flood in 2013. It is shown that in the low-water summer of 2008 due to blocking processes, polar-front cyclones were almost absent over the Amur, were short, had fuzzy frontal systems, and did not bring precipitation. The summer monsoon circulation was suppressed, and in the Amur region continental air masses dominated over marine tropical air. On the contrary, the summer of 2013 was characterized by unprecedented cyclonic activity and the sharp strengthening ofthe moisture-laden monsoon flow from the ocean. As a result, the intensification of summer monsoon precipitation and the Amur flood were observed. It was established that the Far East summer monsoon anomalies are associated with the large-scale transformation of atmospheric circulation over the Asia-Pacific region.     

Molecular structure of brown-dwarf disks

We describe typical features of the chemical composition of proto-planetary disks around brown dwarfs. We model the chemical evolution in the disks around a low-mass T Tauri star and a cooler brown dwarf over a time span of 1 Myr using a model for the physical structure of an accretion disk with a vertical temperature gradient and an extensive set of gas-phase chemical reactions. We find that the disks of T Tauri stars are, in general, hotter and denser than the disks of lower-luminosity substellar objects. In addition, they have more pronounced vertical temperature gradients. The atmospheres of the disks around low-mass stars are more strongly ionized by UV and X-ray radiation, while less dense brown-dwarf disks have higher fractional ionizations in their midplanes. Nevertheless, in both cases, most molecules are concentrated in the so-called warm molecular layer between the ionized atmosphere and cold midplane, where grains with ice mantles are abundant.     

Assessment of possible expansion of the climatic range of Italian locust (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Calliptamus italicus</Emphasis> L.) in Russia in the 21st century at simulated climate changes

The areas of distribution, high pest damage, and mass reproduction of Italian locust are mainly limited by climatic factors. It is demonstrated that under conditions of the RCP4.5 moderate scenario of anthropogenic impact on the global climate system in Russia in the 21st century the climatic range of Italian locust will be expanded mainly northward and, to a smaller extent, eastward. The expansion of the range by the middle of the 21st century as compared with the end of the 20th century will be more significant that at the end of the 21st century versus its middle.     

Quasiperiodic oscillations in the atmospheres of the Sun,Earth, and planets

The published data on long-term observations on cycles of the activity of the Sun and stars of late spectral classes (F, G, K) were analyzed. Quasiperiodic oscillations (QPO) in solar activity with periods varying from 1.8 (7-year cycles) to 12.5 years (24-year cycles) were revealed for the first time. A high degree of correlation between QPO periods and long-term cycles of variations in the activity of the Sun and stars was revealed.