Regional Aspects of Climate-Terrestrial-Hydrologic Interactions in Non-boreal Eastern Europe (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security)

Strong atmosphere-hydrology-biosphere feedbacks including human activity affect the rate and sign of changes in the Earth’s system and have impacts on socioeconomic relationships. These processes are related to atmospheric circulation, climate and land use changes. Satellite-based and in situ monitoring systems have greatly increased our understanding of variations and changes occurring in the regional climate, atmospheric regime, land cover and water circulation. Coupled numerical models are invoked to describe features, which cannot be caught by observation systems or to predict a future state. This book summarizes the state-of-the-art researches on land cover, atmosphere and water resources of the Eastern Europe region, sets up priorities of major researches in these fields, outlines deficiencies in data and their processing, and develops recommendations for further research directions. Selected papers of the Non-Boreal Eastern Europe NEESPI meeting cover five topics: Observational issues in the non-boreal Eastern Europe Regional climate changes Air pollution aspects Land cover and land use changes Changes in the Black Sea and its coastal zone. 9048122414......Page 1 Regional Aspects of Interactions in Non-boreal Eastern Europe......Page 4 Preface......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative: An Introduction......Page 10 The NASA NEESPI Data Portal to Support Studies of Climate and Environmental Changes in Non-boreal Europe......Page 16 Baseline Climatological Data Sets for Eastern Europe Area......Page 24 Precipitation Statistics in Ukraine: Sensitivity to Informational Sources......Page 30 Ecological Challenges of Climate Change in Europe’s Continental, Drought-Threatened Southeast......Page 40 Climate in the Late Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries over the Northern Eurasia: RCM and CMIP3 Simulations......Page 52 Projections of Climate Change over Non-boreal East Europe During First Half of Twenty-First Century According to Results of a Transient RCM Experiment......Page 60 An Assessment of the Recent Past and Future Climate Change, Glacier Retreat, and Runoff in the Caucasus Region Using Dynamical and Statistical Downscaling and HBV-ETH Hydrological Model......Page 67 Regional Climate and Environmental Change: Moldova Case Study......Page 77 Aspects of Regional Climate Modelling with Focus on Precipitation......Page 90 Long-Term Forecasting of Natural Disasters Under Projected Climate Changes in Ukraine......Page 98 Air Pollution in Eastern Europe......Page 106 Section 5. Changes in The Black Sea and Its Coastal Zone......Page 115 Non-boreal Forests of Eastern Europe in a Changing World: The Role in the Earth System......Page 121 Global Land Project: Major Scientific Questions for Coupled Modeling of Land Systems......Page 132 Assessment of Ukrainian Forests Vulnerability to Climate Change......Page 140 Evaluating Vegetation Cover Change Contribution into Greenhouse Effect by Remotely Sensed Data: Case Study for Ukraine......Page 154 Soil Moisture Changes in Non-boreal European Russia: In Situ Data......Page 162 The Effects of Land Use Change on Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics in the Black Sea Region......Page 172 Recent Trends in Land Surface Phenologies Within the Don and Dnieper River Basins from the Perspective of MODIS Collection 4 Products......Page 180 Soil Erosion Induced Degradation of Agrolandscapes in Ukraine: Modeling, Computation and Prediction in Conditions of the Climate Changes......Page 187 Land Distribution and Assessment in the Ukrainian Steppe Within the Dnepropetrovsk Region......Page 196 Development of Mathematical Approaches to the Ecological Differentiation of Arable Land in the Dnipropetrovsk Area of Ukraine......Page 206 Causes of Cropland Abandonment During the Post-socialist Transition in Southern Romania......Page 215 Black Sea Forecasting System: Current State and Prospect......Page 225 Comprehensive Assessment of Negative Factors Affecting the Black Sea Shallow Water in the Danube Area......Page 236 Changes of Thermohalinity Characteristics in the North-West Black Sea Shelf During the Last 50 Years......Page 245 Specificity of Romanian Black Sea Coast Changes Under Climate and Human Impact......Page 253 Contributors......Page 260 Index......Page 263