Long-term estimates of parameters of the vertical distribution of cloud layers from atmospheric radiosounding data

Based on the global aerological dataset and on the method for determination of the boundaries and amount of cloudiness using the profiles of temperature and humidity obtained from the atmospheric radiosounding data [23], the estimates are computed for the parameters of atmospheric temperature- humidity separation into cloud and intercloud layers from the surface to the height of 10 km. The base and top of cloud layers and their total thickness and frequency are selected as layering parameters. The computations are based on the data for the observational period of 1964-1998. To specify the spatiotemporal features of atmospheric layering, long-term geographic distributions of mean values and standard deviations of the mentioned parameters are constructed for January and July, and the amplitude of their variations is determined.     

Acoustic Monitoring of Gas Emission Processes in the Arctic Shelf Seas

Oceanology - The emission of natural gas from the seafloor to the surface in shelf areas of the Arctic seas is of increasing interest among researchers. Recently, various types of acoustic...     

Estimating the Number of Cloud Layers through Radiosonde Data from Russian Aerological Stations for 1964–2014

Radiosonde data are used for the period of 1964–2014 and the method that determines the boundaries and cloud amount based on the profiles of temperature and humidity [23]; long-period statistical characteristics are computed for the cloud layer number for different altitude ranges from the ground to 10 km. The study is performed for the Russian aerological stations located at different latitudes and climate zones. To specify the spatiotemporal features of the atmosphere layering into cloud layers and cloudless layers between them, the estimates of monthly mean, seasonal mean, and annual mean values of cloud layer number as well as of their standard deviations are computed, and the amplitude of their variations is determined. The results qualitatively agree with the data of aircraft-based sounding of the atmosphere as well as with the data of radars and experiments with free balloons.     

Regional Problems in Water Use in Siberian Industrial Agglomerations

Water Resources - The basic indicators of regional water use have been identified and assessed as a component of a single social–natural–technogenic system. These indicators have been...     

Thermotomographic model and oil-and-gas forecasting for the sedimentary cover of the Laptev Sea shelf

2D and 3D geotemperature models of the sedimentary cover within the Laptev Sea shelf have been calculated. The presence of several “thermal domes” (zones of uplifted isotherms) has been found. Based on analogous sedimentary basins with domes, which correlate to the location of hydrocarbon deposits, the forecasting has been made that the Ust-Lena graben and Omoloi trough are the most promising areas for oil-and-gas prospecting.     

The design and experimental use of the Mikhnevo 2D small aperture seismic array

The design of a 2D small aperture seismic array (SASA) installed in the central part of the East European Platform (in the area of the village of Mikhnevo, Moscow Oblast’) is discussed. Brief information is provided on the geologic structure of the upper section. The SASA configuration is described along with parameters of the seismological instrumentation used, and the digital seismic data acquisition system. Results are described from a study of the spectral content and the spatial correlation properties of short period microseismic noise and seismic signal coherence. Examples are provided of records of natural and manmade seismic events occurring at different epicentral distances. Experimental data are analyzed to show that this small aperture seismic array can be an effective tool to study low magnitude seismicity in the East European Platform and for solving several other problems arising in contemporary experimental seismology.     

Principles of quality control of upper-air sounding datasets

Basic principles of the quality control of aerological data are formulated. These principles are assumed as a basis for the procedure of the control of archival and current data of upper-air sounding at All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information-World Data Center including the section of aerological information of the Russian State Fund. It is demonstrated that the only possible way to solve a problem of creation of historical high-resolution global datasets is the use of the method of complex (multicomponent) quality control.     

Multiple re‐advances of a Lake Vättern outlet glacier during Fennoscandian Ice Sheet retreat,south‐central Sweden

Lake Vättern represents a critical region geographically and dynamically in the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The outlet glacier that occupied the basin and its behaviour during ice‐sheet retreat were key to the development and drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, dammed just west of the basin, yet its geometry, extent, thickness, margin dynamics, timing and sensitivity to regional retreat forcing are rather poorly known. The submerged sediment archives of Lake Vättern represent a missing component of the regional Swedish deglaciation history. Newly collected geophysical data, including high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry of the lake floor and seismic reflection profiles of southern Lake Vättern, are used here together with a unique 74‐m sediment record recently acquired by drill coring, and with onshore LiDAR‐based geomorphological analysis, to investigate the deglacial environments and dynamics in the basin and its terrestrial environs. Five stratigraphical units comprise a thick subglacial package attributed to the last glacial period (and probably earlier), and an overlying >120‐m deglacial sequence. Three distinct retreat–re‐advance episodes occurred in southern Lake Vättern between the initial deglaciation and the Younger Dryas. In the most recent of these, ice overrode proglacial lake sediments and re‐advanced from north of Visingsö to the southern reaches of the lake, where ice up to 400 m thick encroached on land in a lobate fashion, moulding crag‐and‐tail lineations and depositing till above earlier glacifluvial sediments. This event precedes the Younger Dryas, which our data reveal was probably restricted to north‐central sectors of the basin. These dynamics, and their position within the regional retreat chronology, indicate a highly active ice margin during deglaciation, with retreat rates on average 175 m a^?1. The pronounced topography of the Vättern basin and its deep proglacial‐dammed lake are likely to have encouraged the dynamic behaviour of this major Fennoscandian outlet glacier.