Climate variability over the Asian territory of Russia during 1975–2012

Abstract

Observational data for 1975–2012 have been used in analyzing the formation of air temperature and atmospheric pressure fields over the Asian territory of Russia (ATR). The climatic trends at the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st centuries for the ATR as a whole as well as for its separate regions were assessed through comparison of temperature and pressure variability indices for two time intervals: 1975–2005, and 1982–2012. It was established that climatic changes during 1982–2012 continued to manifest themselves in a rise of mean annual surface air temperature; however, the warming process was less intense than during 1975–2005. A large role in the decrease of the temperature growth rates is played by the winter months when the warming process is replaced by the cooling process. Furthermore, the latter time interval showed a tendency for an increase in pressure.