Electronic Atlas of Climatic Changes in the Western Russian Arctic in 1950–2021 as Geoinformatic Support of Railway Development
Source abstract
Abstract
The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is one of the most intensively developing regions of the country. Amongst the major domains of economic and industrial growth and improvement is transport infrastructure and particularly the railway network. This area is being exposed to negative factors of rapid climate change that can significantly affect and compromise this activity. Thus, it is vital to take them into account during design, construction, and operation of the railway infrastructure facilities. This work details the production of a digital atlas comprising the 1950–2021 dynamics of the main hydrometeorological parameters: air and soil temperature, precipitation, wind speed, air and soil humidity, and snow cover thickness. The maps are based on climatic data derived from the MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2) reanalysis. In total there are 459, which are arranged into 7 chapters. The atlas geographically covers the western part of the Russian Arctic encompassing the regions of quite intensive transport development, which includes the construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway. Original algorithms of geospatial data processing and their further representation as well as the maps compiled in GIS environment are discussed. Comprehensive analysis of climatic changes in the region of the Russian Arctic including detailed quantitative evaluation over 40 years is given. In the Discussion, we focus on those changes of the regional climate which, from our point of view, are the most significant for consideration by railway operators. The obtained results contribute to framing the theoretical basis of design, development, and sustainable operation of the railway infrastructure in the Arctic and facilitate the decision-making process. This is the first experience of building a specialized climatic cartographic product for the needs of the Russian railways, and to our knowledge the first atlas such as that in the world. In the future, the amassed experience may be transferred to other regions of the Russian Federation as well as similar regions in Canada, Sweden and Highland China that are also subject to significant climate change.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Climate change and permafrost · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Smart Materials for Construction
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Geophysical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119296 Moscow, Russia
Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 123242 Moscow, Russia
Russian University of Transport, 127994 Moscow, Russia
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia
Sergei Witte Moscow University, 115432 Moscow, Russia
Geological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
Research and Design Institute of Informatization, Automation and Communications in Railway Transport, 109029 Moscow, Russia
Funding
Russian Science Foundation
References (77)
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