This article is concerned with assessment of changes
in two critical characteristics of lake and river ice regime, namely ice cover duration
and maximum ice thickness, in the period from the beginning of the 80s to the present,
which is characterized by higher temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere compared
with the previous period. The above ice regime characteristics are often limiting
factors in winter operation of lakes and rivers (navigation, hydraulic construction
works in cold period, construction of ice roads etc.). Assessment of changes in
ice characteristics of lakes and rivers has been made for 52 river and five lake
gauging sites of the Asian part of Russia (APR) using long-term observation data
from the Russian observing network. Long-term series of the above characteristics
were divided into two periods: from 1955 to 1979 (the period of stationary climate)
and from 1980 to 2014 (non-stationary climate) and assessed from the point of view
of their homogeneity and trend significance by Student’s t-test. The research has
found that at most of the sites in the APR, both ice cover duration and maximum
ice thickness decreased during non-stationary climate period compared with the previous
one. The greatest quantitative changes have occurred in the Eastern Siberia (average
net decrease in ice cover duration amounted to 7 days.decade-1 and in
maximum ice thickness-20 cm.decade-1) and in the Amur River basin (7
days.decade-1 and 17 cm.decade-1 respectively).
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