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Earth’s Cryosphere

2021 year, number 3

CONJUNCTION OF CHANGES IN AIR TEMPERATURE, SNOW COVER THICKNESS AND SOIL TEMPERATURE OF EAST EUROPEAN PLAIN

L.M. Kitaev
Institute of Geography, RAS, Staromonetny per. 29, Moscow, 119017, Russia
Keywords: snow thickness, surface air temperature, soil temperature, spatial distribution, multiyear progress

Abstract

The main goal of the research is to assess the nature of the spatio-temporal changes in the temperature regime of the soil of the East European Plain (Russian part) under the conditions of changes in snow cover and soil temperature in recent decades - at the local and regional levels. The phases of changes in soil temperature, snow thickness, and surface air temperature, typical for the study area, have been identified. Significant long-term tendencies in the progress of in soil temperature are characteristic of low-snow autumn and spring periods, as well as a significant correlation between soil temperature and air temperature during those periods in the absence of statistical relationships during the snow season. A sharp decrease in the seasonal and inter-annual variability of soil temperature in the period with stable snow cover has been revealed - by 3-5 times relative to the variability of the surface air temperature, and by 1.3-2.5 times relative to the variability of soil temperature in the pre-winter and spring periods with a progress of changes. Thus, the appearance of stable snow cover in the winter season determines the progress of soil temperature within a narrow corridor of near-zero values, low or insignificant coefficients of the linear trend, low seasonal and inter-annual variability, the absence of statistical relationships with the course of changes in snow thickness and surface air temperature - both at the local, and at the regional levels of the East European Plain.