Regional aspects of climate-terrestrial-hydrologic interactions in non-boreal Eastern Europe selected papers presented ath the Joint Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) and the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Regional Aspects

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. Front Matter....Pages i-ix The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative: An Introduction....Pages 1-6 The NASA NEESPI Data Portal to Support Studies of Climate and Environmental Changes in Non-boreal Europe....Pages 9-16 Baseline Climatological Data Sets for Eastern Europe Area....Pages 17-22 Precipitation Statistics in Ukraine: Sensitivity to Informational Sources....Pages 23-32 Ecological Challenges of Climate Change in Europe's Continental, Drought-Threatened Southeast....Pages 35-46 Climate in the Late Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries over the Northern Eurasia: RCM and CMIP3 Simulations....Pages 47-54 Projections of Climate Change over Non-boreal East Europe During First Half of Twenty-First Century According to Results of a Transient RCM Experiment....Pages 55-61 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....Pages 63-72 Regional Climate and Environmental Change: Moldova Case Study....Pages 73-85 Aspects of Regional Climate Modelling with Focus on Precipitation....Pages 87-94 Long-Term Forecasting of Natural Disasters Under Projected Climate Changes in Ukraine....Pages 95-102 Air Pollution in Eastern Europe....Pages 105-113 The NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Program's Support of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI): Focus on Non-boreal Europe....Pages 117-122 Non-boreal Forests of Eastern Europe in a Changing World: The Role in the Earth System....Pages 123-133 Global Land Project: Major Scientific Questions for Coupled Modeling of Land Systems....Pages 135-142 Assessment of Ukrainian Forests Vulnerability to Climate Change....Pages 143-156 Evaluating Vegetation Cover Change Contribution into Greenhouse Effect by Remotely Sensed Data: Case Study for Ukraine....Pages 157-164 Soil Moisture Changes in Non-boreal European Russia: In Situ Data....Pages 165-174 The Effects of Land Use Change on Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics in the Black Sea Region....Pages 175-182 Recent Trends in Land Surface Phenologies Within the Don and Dnieper River Basins from the Perspective of MODIS Collection 4 Products....Pages 183-189 Soil Erosion Induced Degradation of Agrolandscapes in Ukraine: Modeling, Computation and Prediction in Conditions of the Climate Changes....Pages 191-199 Land Distribution and Assessment in the Ukrainian Steppe Within the Dnepropetrovsk Region....Pages 201-210 Development of Mathematical Approaches to the Ecological Differentiation of Arable Land in the Dnipropetrovsk Area of Ukraine....Pages 211-219 Causes of Cropland Abandonment During the Post-socialist Transition in Southern Romania....Pages 221-230 Black Sea Forecasting System: Current State and Prospect....Pages 233-243 Comprehensive Assessment of Negative Factors Affecting the Black Sea Shallow Water in the Danube Area....Pages 245-253 Changes of Thermohalinity Characteristics in the North-West Black Sea Shelf During the Last 50 Years....Pages 255-262 Specificity of Romanian Black Sea Coast Changes Under Climate and Human Impact....Pages 263-269 Back Matter....Pages 271-276 Selected Papers at the Joint Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) and the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Regional Aspects of Climate-Terrestrial-Hydrologic Interactions in Eastern EuropeOdessa, Ukraine23-28 August 2008