Climatic and environmental characteristics of Moscow megalopolis according to the data of the Moscow State University Meteorological Observatory over 60 years

Analyzed are the results of meteorological and environmental measurements performed over the 60-year period (1954–2013) at the Meteorological Observatory of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The significant positive temperature trend (0.04°C/year for 1954–2013) was obtained; it increased up to 0.07°C/year in 1976–2012. Considered are the features of seasonal variations of different atmospheric characteristics. Discussed are the type and causes of low-frequency changes in meteorological parameters, radiation balance components, radiation in different spectral ranges, and chemical composition of precipitation. Demonstrated are possible mechanisms of the more significant increase observed in air temperature in Moscow as compared with that in Central Federal District and their connection with the greenhouse effect in the urban atmosphere.     

Influence of the motion of gravitating masses on the observed properties of a point light source

Vil'nius Pedagogical Institute. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 389–396, September–October, 1989.     

New Chronological,Paleontological, and Geochemical Data on the Formation of Glacier-Dammed Lakes in the Kurai Depression (Southeastern Russian Altai) at the End of the Late Pleistocene

Doklady Earth Sciences - One of the debated problems in Pleistocene paleogeography of the Altai region is the extent and time of existence of the last glacier-dammed lakes. For the first time...     

Subgrade-reinforcement techniques for the dangerously deforming sections of railway lines in the north of the Russian Far East

This paper lists difficult railway construction conditions that are typical for the northern areas of the Russian Far East. Permafrost-bound issues of railway and highway construction and operation are described. Some of the authors'' developments for subgrade stabilization in the foregoing conditions are given as examples.     

Water Level in a Shallow Highly Eutrophic Lake: Development Factor by Macrophyte or Phytoplankton Type: Case Study of Lake Nero,Yaroslavl Oblast

Long-term dynamics of water level in Lake Nero (1930–2011) has been analyzed. Pronounced trends, determined by the climate and anthropogenic components have been identified. Up to the 1970s, at a drop in lake water level, the ecosystem still showed the main features of a shallow water body overgrown with macrophytes. Water level rise caused a more intense development of phytoplankton, an increase in biogenic element concentrations, a decrease in water transparency and the contribution of cyanobacteria of S₁ codon; pondweed disappeared almost completely. Step-by-step regression analysis of phytoplankton development indices and hydrological characteristics showed that water transparency in Lake Nero depends by 80% directly on water exchange and inversely on the concentration of chlorophyll a in seston. The main hypothesis of the study was confirmed: the key trigger in phytoplankton–macrophytes competition is water level rise.     

Late Pleistostene-Holocene sedimentation in lakes of central Transbaikalia: Implications for climate and environment changes

We present integrated mineralogical, geochemical, and palynological data for Late Pleistocene-Holocene bottom sediments of Lake Arakhlei located in the Beklemishev tectonic basin in the southern Vitim Plateau (central Transbaikalia). The sediment samples were studied by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, laser particle sizing, spore-pollen analysis, radiocarbon (¹⁴C AMS) dating, and XRF spectrometry. The cored 128 cm long section of lake sediments consists of two units: One is composed mainly of layered silicates (illite-smectite, illite, chlorite, chlorite-smectite, muscovite, and kaolinite) and organic matter (OM) but no carbonates from 0 to 80 cm and the other contains authigenic Ca-Mg carbonates (up to 30%) of Mg-calcite and excess-Ca dolomite from 80 to 128 cm. The sediments also contain a rare mineral weddellite CaC₂O₄2H₂O discovered for the first time in Transbaikalian lakes. The evolution of Lake Arakhlei and its drainage basin comprised four stages, with pollen zones that mark the Late Pleistocene and Holocene climate history of the Beklemishev basin. The reconstructed history of Lake Arakhlei for the past ~ 15,500 years followed general climatic changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, integrated research, including detailed analysis of mineral components and spore-pollen assemblages in lake sediments, is a workable tool for studying climatic controls of continental sedimentation.     

Numerical Simulation of Variations in Ozone Content,Erythemal Ultraviolet Radiation,and Ultraviolet Resources over Northern Eurasia in the 21st Century

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The influence of different factors on the total ozone content (TOC) and erythemal UV radiation (Qery) in the atmosphere over northern Eurasia from 1979...     

Climate signals in sediment mineralogy of Lake Baikal and Lake Hovsgol during the LGM-Holocene transition and the 1-Ma carbonate record from the HDP-04 drill core

Modeling the bulk sediment XRD patterns allows insight into the environmental and depositional histories of two neighboring rift lake basins within the Baikal watershed. Parallel ¹⁴C-dated LGM-Holocene records in Lakes Baikal and Hovsgol are used to discuss the mineralogical signatures of regional climate change. In both basins, it is possible to distinguish ‘glacial’ and ‘interglacial’ mineral associations. Clay minerals comprise in excess of 50% of layered silicates in bulk sediment.The abundance of smectite (expandable) layers in mixed-layer illite–smectites and the total illite abundance are the main paleoclimatic indices in the clay mineral assemblage. Both indices exhibit coherent responses to the Bølling–Allerød and the Younger Dryas. The smectite layer index is not equivalent to the abundance of illite–smectite, because illite–smectite tends to transform into illite. Repeated wetting–drying cycles in soils and high abundance of expandable layers in illite–smectites (>42%) favor the process of illitization. This relationship is clearly shown in both Baikal and Hovsgol records for the first time. The opposite late Holocene trends in illite abundance in Lake Baikal and Lake Hovsgol records suggest that a sensitive optimal regime may exist for illite formation in the Baikal watershed with regard to warmth and effective moisture.The Lake Hovsgol sediments of the last glacial contain carbonates, suggesting a positive trend in the lake's water budget. A progressive change towards lower Mg content in carbonates indicates lowering mineralization of lake waters. This trend is consistent with the lithologic evidence for lake-level rise in the Hovsgol basin.The pattern of mineralogical changes during the past 20 ka is used to interpret bulk sediment and carbonate mineralogy of the long 81-m Lake Hovsgol drill core (HDP-04) with a basal age of 1 Ma. The interglacial-type silicate mineral associations are confined to several thin intervals; most of the sediment record is calcareous. Carbonates are represented by six main mineral phases: calcite, low-Mg calcite, intermediate/high-Mg calcite, dolomite, excess-Ca dolomite and metastable monohydrocalcite. These mineral phases tend to form stratigraphic successions indicative of progressive changes in lake water chemistry. Five sediment layers with abundant Mg-calcites in the HDP-04 section suggest deposition in a low standing lake with high mineralization (salinity) and high Mg/Ca ratios of lake waters. Lake Hovsgol sediments contain the oldest known monohydrocalcite, found tens of meters below lake bottom in sediments as old as 800 ka. This unusual find is likely due to the conditions favorable to preservation of this metastable carbonate.     

Discovery of Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene brown coal deposits (Kosh-Agach formation) in the Dzhazator River valley (Southeastern Russian Altai): Neotectonic and paleogeographical aspects

Results of complex paleontological and geochemical analysis are reported for a new locality of the Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene Kosh-Agach carbonaceous formation in the Dzhazator River valley. This find specifies the scales of lacustrine–marsh sedimentation at the end of the Paleogene and beginning of the Neogene, as well as the character and amplitude of post-Neogene neotectonic movements in the southeastern highest mountain part of Russian Altai. Systematic rejuvenation of the radiocarbon age of the sequences studied, which has been established for the first time in Altai, is related to influx of young carbon during the subsequent complex geological history. This fact is of great importance for deciphering the chronology of Pleistocene glacial–dammed lakes in the intermontane basins of Altai and Tuva, the erosion zone of which spanned exhumed Tertiary deposits.     

Climatic features of the Belaya River runoff formation

Spatiotemporal regularities of changes in mean annual air temperature and annual precipitation amount values for the Belaya River basin were revealed on the basis of the analysis of statistical homogeneity of their long-term series. It is established that warming has occurred by now and the increase in precipitation amount is registered in the Belaya River basin. Revealed was the contribution of mean seasonal air temperature and precipitation changes to the changes in their mean long-term values.