Favorable geographical location of St. Petersburg

The maritime status of St. Petersburg determines the great importance of the city in the Russian economy as a major export center. It was created as a point of entry of the Russian state to the European market. However, St. Petersburg is important not only as an export port. In the article we will consider the climate of the city and the geographical position.

St. Petersburg is a city on two seas

The place of construction of the city was chosen not by accident. Located in the delta of one of the largest rivers in the region of St. Petersburg has an outlet not only to the Gulf of Finland, and through it to the Baltic Sea and further to the Atlantic Ocean, but also to the Ladoga Lake, which during the construction of the city was an important link in the northern transport routes.

In the XX century. The role of Lake Ladoga became even more significant in connection with the construction of a transport system that connected it with the White Sea. Thus, the transit of goods from the Baltic Sea to the White Sea and further to the ports of the northern seas became possible.

The economic and geographical location of St. Petersburg is even more profitable after the final formation of the Volga-Baltic waterway, which connected Lake Onega with the Volga, which flows into the Caspian Sea. This way, the Caspian states actively use them to wire their vessels to the north.

Import of industrial goods

Back in the XlX century. Available port capacities and close proximity to developed industrial powers made St. Petersburg a major center of the processing industry. In the city factories and factories that process not only Russian, but also European raw materials were actively started to be built. Of great importance for the urban economy were metalworking and engineering, which were developed in the Soviet period, turning the city one of the key industrial centers throughout the Soviet Union.

At the same time, the geographical location of St. Petersburg has made it a transit point for goods from remote regions of the country.

St. Petersburg: physical and geographical characteristics

The city with a population of five million people is the largest in Northern Europe. The location in the delta of the Neva, in addition to the advantages associated with the possibility of active economic activity, also creates some difficulties. Indeed, it is at the confluence of the river into the gulf that its current meets the waves of the Baltic, which can cause severe flooding. Experts identify several key reasons for changing the water level in the Neva.

In summer and autumn, the main cause of floods in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland is the cyclones that originate in the Baltic, which drive water towards the city, where it collides with the Neva that flows into the Gulf, which causes a rise in the water level in the Neva Bay and along the entire delta.

Throughout the history of the city floods were of great importance for his life and quite often were devastating. However, with the commissioning of a complex of flood protection facilities in 2011, raising the water level has ceased to pose a serious threat to the city.

White nights and the Gulf Stream

One of the symbols of the city along with the floods are the white nights of St. Petersburg. The geographical position and climate of the city are arranged in such a way that in the period from June 11 to July 2, the sun over the city goes only 7 degrees to the horizon. In this morning twilight almost merges with the evening. However, all the remaining time in the city is very bright nights, although the sun and falls lower.

On one with St. Petersburg latitude are such cities as Khanty-Mansiysk and Reykjavik, but the climate in the northern capital is much softer than in these cities. Great influence on the temperature regime is due to the Atlantic current of the Gulf Stream, which softens the winters in the whole of Fennoscandia - the geographic region to which St. Petersburg belongs.

However, the same current, together with a moderate winter and a warm summer, brings to the region and a large number of cloud masses. Because of this, the number of sunny days on average is one and a half to two times less than in southern Europe. It rarely exceeds 72 days.

Azores anticyclone and St. Petersburg winters

Most of the air masses and winds get to St. Petersburg from the Atlantic Ocean, but the warmest air and high pressure, characterized by sunny weather, come from the southeast. Cold air comes from the Arctic Ocean region.

Such a variety of sources of air intake makes the weather in the Baltic extremely variable. Fluctuating weather also became a kind of visiting card of the city.

In addition, the geography of St. Petersburg, geographical location and solar radiation affect the climate of the city, great importance is the ecology of the urban environment.

As in any other large city, dust, exhaust fumes, soot and other impurities trap heat at the surface, which is why the temperature in the center of the city is often higher than in the outskirts of 6-10 degrees.

The human capital of the cultural capital

To summarize, it is worthwhile to say that St. Petersburg occupies an extremely favorable position, from an economic point of view, due to the geographic features of the region. However, the climate, the amount of sunlight and soil quality do not allow making agriculture an important component of the economy. This shortcoming, however, is more than compensated by the high cultural level of citizens and the quality of education, without which St. Petersburg will not be able to use its geographical position to the full.