Atmospheric droughts in Southern Siberia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries

Abstract

The modern warming that began in the 70s of the 20th century is characterized by an increase in the frequency of extreme natural phenomena. Some characteristics of droughts (repeatability, intensity, etc.) for individual years are calculated on the basis of a drought index for Southern Siberia from 1979 to 2017. Specialized computational algorithms are developed to calculate these characteristics. All these algorithms are integrated into a previously created web-GIS called “CLIMATE”. It has been found that in recent years the duration of dry periods during the growing season increased. At the same time, the trends of the drought index in the summer months are different and, on average, there has been no significant change in the hydrothermal conditions over the past 40 years. However, in recent years there is an increase in the frequency of extreme events, both drought and excessive moistening ones.