Abstract
The distribution pattern of the characteristics of spring–summer droughts during periods of increased and decreased annual wetting in 12 administrative entities of the south of European Russia in 1901–2018 are studied. During this time, four periods of different humidification conditions (alternating wetter, dry, wet and again dry periods) of different durations are well traced according to anomalies in the aridity index in seven regions: Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Saratov, Volgograd, and Rostov oblasts and the Republic of Kalmykia. A desiccation period was noted in Samara and Astrakhan oblasts from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century. The desiccation period then gave way to a wetter one. The most frequent change of periods with different moisture conditions was observed in Stavropol krai, where five alternating periods were identified. It has been established that the frequency of spring–summer droughts is consistent with the long-term humidification conditions. According to the standardized precipitation index, it increases on average by 1.5 times in the dry period with a slight increase in drought intensity. The conditions of increased humidification observed in all of the examined administrative subjects in the second half of the 20th century were replaced by drier conditions at the beginning of the 21st century. The spread of more arid conditions began in the eastern oblasts. The development of the dry period in the 21st century is confirmed by the distribution of the NDVI vegetation index in the negative trend. In the absence of statistically significant aridization trends for more than a century, all of the considered oblasts of the south of European Russia undergo long, intracentury periods of aridization strengthening and weakening, which are characterized by significant differences in the frequency and intensity of spring–summer droughts.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Allen, R.G., Pereira, L.S., Raes, D., and Smith, M., Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements, in FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56, Rome: Food Agric. Org., 1998.
Cherenkova, E.A., Quantitative analysis of atmospheric droughts in European Russia, Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr., 2013, no. 6, pp. 76–85.
Cherenkova, E.A. and Shumova, N.A., Evaporation in quantitative climate indices, Arid.Ekosist., 2007, vol. 13, nos. 33–34, pp. 55–67.
Cherenkova, E.A. and Zolotokrylin, A.N., Model estimates of moistening conditions on the Russian plains by the middle of the 21st century, Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol., 2012, vol. 37, nos. 11–12, pp. 704–710.
Cherenkova, E.A. and Zolotokrylin, A.N., Comparison of some quantitative indices of drought, Fundam. Prikl. Klimatol., 2016, no. 2, pp. 79–94.
Harris, I., Jones, P.D., Osborn, T.J., and Lister, D.H., Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations—the CRU TS3 .10 dataset, Int. J. Climatol., 2014, vol. 34, pp. 623–642.
Penman, H.L., Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 1948, vol. 193, pp. 120–146.
Penman, H.L., Estimating evaporation, Trans., Am. Geophys. Union, 1956, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 43–50.
Remote sensing data download service LP DAAC, MODIS Data, mod13c2v006, 2019. https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/ products/mod13c2v006/. Accessed February 2, 2020.
Zolotokrylin, A.N. and Cherenkova, E.A., Moisture trends in the grain belt of Russia in the beginning of the 21st century, Probl. Ekol. Monit. Model. Ekosist., 2013, vol. 25, pp. 251–264.
Zolotokrylin, A.N., Titkova, T.B., and Cherenkova, E.A., Humidification of drylands in European Russia: the present and future, Arid Ecosyst., 2014, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 49–54.
Zolotokrylin, A.N., Cherenkova, E.A., and Titkova, T.B., Aridization of drylands in European Russia and the relation with droughts, Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk,Ser. Geogr., 2020, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 207–217.
Funding
The study was conducted in the framework of the scientific theme no. 0127-2019-0010 (AAAA-A19-119102890091-1). Analysis of the frequency of droughts was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project 19-17-00242.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Statement on the welfare of humans or animals. This article does not contain any studies involving animals performed by any of the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zolotokrylin, A.N., Titkova, T.B. & Cherenkova, E.A. Characteristics of Spring–Summer Drought in Dry and Wet Periods in the South of European Russia. Arid Ecosyst 10, 322–328 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120040216
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120040216