The main climate-forming factors in Russia. What are climate-forming factors in Russia?

Climate-forming factors are the conditions for the formation of a certain type of climate. These are the causes that affect air temperatures, rainfall and other important indicators. Consider the main climate-forming factors in Russia - the largest country in the world in terms of area.

Solar radiation, geographical latitude and other climate-forming factors

The star of our system is the main source of heat on Earth. Solar radiation and radiation levels are one of the most important causes of climate formation. Because of the sphericity of the planet, the angle of inclination of the rays is not the same at the equator, in the tropics and in the polar latitudes. But not only this condition determines what the air temperatures and seasons in one or another locality will be. There are other main climate-forming factors:

• Circulation of air masses;
• Latitude of terrain;
• Features of the relief;
• The influence of the seas, oceans, the proximity of other continents.

Solar radiation

Not all the rays of our star reach the surface of the Earth, while the amount of incoming energy is determined by the location of the territory and depends on a number of other reasons. Part of the radiation (about 20%) is reflected by the upper layers of the atmosphere. About 30% is scattered by clouds, dust particles and water droplets. The sum is composed of scattered and direct radiation reaching the solid shell of the planet. In this last form, the absorbed and reflected radiation is extracted.

Absorption depends on the specific heat and thermal conductivity of the underlying surface. Water has a large specific heat, the oceans and seas absorb 95% of the direct radiation, gradually accumulate heat in the summer, slowly give up in winter. White snow, glaciers absorb about 15% and reflect 85% of the radiation reaching the surface. For chernozem, the reflection index is 4%.

Climate-forming factors are interrelated causes of climate formation. Let us give examples of the effect on the radiation balance of other conditions. So, in the territory of Russia, when moving from north to south, the total solar radiation decreases by approximately 2.7 times. On the island of Sakhalin, located in the Sea of Okhotsk in the east of Russia, clouds reflect 70% of sunlight. As a result, a more severe climate is formed than at the same latitudes within the continent.

Atmospheric circulation

The main causes of the formation and movement of huge concentrations of air - the uneven heating of the Earth's surface by the Sun. This is one of the main conditions for creating different atmospheric pressure on the planet. The characteristics of the air masses depend on the place of their formation, so, over the oceans the sea air dominates, it is wet, over the continent - dry continental. The abbreviated letters for these two varieties are M and K, respectively. When Russia's climate-forming factors are studied, three main types of air masses - arctic, temperate and tropical - are necessarily characterized. They can be marine and continental. The following abbreviations are used: MAV, CAV, MUV, KUV, MTV, KTV.

The types of dominant air masses determine the most important features of climate and weather:

• Atmosphere pressure;
• Temperature in the surface layer of the atmosphere;
• Direction of constant winds;
• Transparency of air;
• humidity.

Air masses are able to transform, change their physical properties, moving over the surface of the Earth from one region to another.

Geographic latitude

The ratio between receipt and the expenditure of solar radiation - the radiation balance - is one of the main climate-forming factors. It affects the thermal regime of the soil and other surfaces, the lower layers of the atmosphere. The evaporation of water, the transformation of large masses of air, the life of man and plants depend on the radiation balance. But what is the main factor in climate-forming factor? This is the geographical latitude - the distance from the equator to the area under study on the surface of the Earth.

In July, the angle between the rays and the earth's surface in the Northern Tropical Belt of Light is almost 90 °. Then there is more energy per unit area, the land is heated more strongly, and air is from it. The further from the equator and the tropics, the colder.

Influence of geographical latitude on the climate of Russia

Let us consider how the main climate-forming factor influences the example of the Russian Federation. The country extends from the icy Arctic to the subtropics of the Caucasus, from the Baltic coast to Chukotka and the Pacific seas. The climate varies considerably from north to south and from west to east. Moderate air prevails, cold air masses from the Arctic often invade, the Siberian anticyclone, moist Atlantic air influence.

There is a great variety, but for Russia the main climate-forming factor is the distance from the equator. When moving to the southern borders of the country, the value of solar radiation rises. The closer to the Arctic Circle and the North Pole, the colder. Thus, the long-term weather regime in different regions of the country largely depends on the geographical latitude.

Relief, the influence of continents and oceans - climate-forming factors

Not always the distribution of air temperatures strictly obeys the law of latitudinal zoning and depends only on solar radiation. If we connect the lines of the city of Russia with the same summer temperatures, then it is easy to see that the July isotherms are located mainly according to the geographical latitude. But in the European part of Russia, the isotherms of January 0, -8, -10 ° C lie to the north, than in Siberia. The climate of the territory to the Urals is softened by the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and its warm currents.

The meridianly located chain of the Ural mountains delays the moist and warm air coming from the Atlantic. On the Pacific coast, the isotherms of July are lower than at the same latitudes within the country, because of the influence of the summer monsoon and the prevalence of scattered radiation on the island of Sakhalin. When you climb mountains, the temperature drops even at the same latitude.

Asian high (Siberian anticyclone)

Over the territory of Mongolia from November to March dominates the area of high atmospheric pressure. Air masses with low temperatures from CAV coming from the north are formed. At this time of year, the climate of the region is almost not affected by the Pacific Ocean. The mountains of southern and eastern Siberia prevent the flow of chilled air. The result is the lowest in Russia and the entire Northern Hemisphere temperature in the surface layer of the atmosphere (from -40 to -70 ° C).

Temperature inversions are observed when cold air stagnates in the basins. Then at an altitude of about 2 km it is warmer by about + 10 ... + 20 ° С than in the depressions and near the surface of the earth. Having ascertained which factors are climate-forming, we became convinced that not only the causes themselves are important, but also the combination of conditions in a certain territory.

Climate formation

In the center and in the north of the European part of Russia, more rain falls than at the same latitude in Eastern Siberia. To the west of the country comes MUV from the Atlantic, cyclonic activity prevails here (low air temperatures, sleet, showers). Over the Arctic Circle, there is little precipitation, and the impact of CAV, poor in moisture, is felt. In Siberia and the Urals, the continental climate differs from the European regions of the country. Summer here is relatively warm and short, winter is long, very cold.

In the south, in Astrakhan Oblast, climate-forming factors have a significant impact: geographic latitude and the associated magnitude of solar radiation, atmospheric circulation. We can note the effect on the climate and weather in the summer of dry and hot KTV, which comes from Kazakhstan, Central Asia. The flow of the same air masses to the Black Sea coast of Russia is delayed by high mountain ranges.

Specific conditions of Kamchatka were formed in conditions of a combination of marine and sharply continental types of climate. The region is characterized by frequent changes in weather, strong winds, considerable amount of precipitation, in winter - in the form of heavy snowfalls.

Climatic weapons

Finding out what climate-forming factors are, we focused on natural processes and phenomena. It is required to explain such facts as an increase in average annual air temperatures and uneven precipitation in recent decades. Is this a natural pattern or result of anthropogenic climate change?

A single-valued answer to this question is difficult to give. Do not quit the debate about whether the use of climate weapons, it is created or is only being developed. Particularly active issue was discussed during the extreme heat in Russia in the summer of 2010. The temperature in the central part of the country was 10 ° C above the average for the region. The year was the hottest since the end of the XIX century. There were massive forest fires, there was a surge in mortality among the population.

Climate weapons are ways to control weather for military purposes. The enemy is harmed as a result of natural anomalies (droughts, floods). The creation of climate weapons scientists of the United States and the USSR began to work in the middle of the last century. Such actions contradict the UN Convention prohibiting military use of means of influence on the natural environment. The US government denies the artificial influence on the atmosphere with the aim of causing damage to other states, the population and the environment.