Development of computational module of regional aridity for web-GIS "climate"

Abstract

Modern global climate changes are characterized by a significant warming started in the late 1970s. According to the observation data, the average rate of warming in Russia for 1976-2012 was 0.43 °C/10 years. Additionally, the trend of annual precipitation for the same period in most parts of Russia is positive. To study the integral climate characteristics of a region, in particular, hydrothermal conditions, is of great interest. A new software module for the assessment of aridity was developed and added to an information and computing web system called "Climate". The well-known hydrothermal coefficient of Selyaninov (HTC) was used with ECMWF ERA Interim reanalysis data for the period from 1979 to 2010. The input data (precipitation, temperature, HTC) were validated using observation data from weather stations. It was found that the ERA Interim data substantially (by 50%) underestimated the measured precipitation in the study region. The precipitation was corrected by the results. New spatially distributed precipitation and HTC data were obtained. The web system "Climate" is based on web and GIS techniques and is part of a hardware and software complex for "cloud" analysis of climatic data. It includes several climatological and meteorological datasets, as well as dedicated software modules for searching, selection, extraction, and visualization of data.