No 2 (2019)

The results of a comparative analysis of the brightness temperatures determined from the SMOS satellite and the corresponding depths of soil freezing, measured at weather stations located at the test sites of the Kulunda Plain, are presented. Based on the daily satellite measurement of brightness temperature, the effect of soil freezing on the microwave radiation of the underlying surface was studied. A theoretical calculation of the dependence of soil brightness temperature on the depth of freezing is performed with the model of microwave radiation of a plane-layered inhomogeneous non-isothermal medium. The real parameters of the Kulunda plain soil as well as the climatic characteristics of the sites under study, obtained from the weather stations for the same period, were used as the input parameters of the model. The analysis of satellite, field and model data showed that the evaluation of the depth of soil freezing with satellite microwave radiometry is limited by the need to conduct the contact measurements of physical properties of soil in the areas, for which the SMOS product on the brightness temperature is given.

The paper deals with the problem of integrated interpretation of waste disposal facilities according to satellite imagery and ground truth monitoring, features of space images of landfills from various points of view: texture analysis, statistical properties, fractal analysis, color features, and the possibility of using machine learning methods. The main visual interpretive signs of landfills on optical and radar images of high spatial resolution are given. The fractal dimension of landfills was calculated for high resolution images using two models.

The paper deals with the results of the analysis of the dynamic mathematical model for the morphological pattern of thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion basing on the mathematical morphology of landscape approach and remote sensing data. The theoretical analysis resulted in the dynamic mathematical model for the morphological pattern of thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion, which was empirically tested at a set of the key sites. The empirical testing confirms the theoretical results about the exponential distribution of khasyrei areas in different natural environments with a broad geological and geocryological spectrums. Moreover, the area distribution of thermokarst lakes obeys both gamma and lognormal distributions. We have found that the average radius and diameter distributions should be the Raleigh one. The analysis shows that the variant of the thermokarst synchronous start is the most common for the taken key sites. Besides, the model allows us to assess certain dynamic parameters of the processes using landscape metrics from a single time slice.

The mechanisms of formation and distribution of total suspended matter (tsm) off the West Coast of Crimea under the influence of strong winds of various directions were investigated on the base of satellite data of medium and high resolution. The maximum tsm reaching the values of 200 mg / l was is observed during strong southern winds. In this case, the zone of high tsm is located at the western shelf of the Crimea limited by a 50 m isobath. The wave impact on resuspension of bottom sediments and the erosion of clay cliffs located on the west coast of Crimea lead to the formation of a large amount of tsm. After the storm, a northern alongshore current transfers tsm to the north. During northeast winds, the highest tsm are observed not near the coast, but in the seaward part of the shelf between 30 and 50 m isobaths. It is likely that turbulent mixing during such winds resuspense bottom sediments in shallow areas, which are further transported from the coast due to the offshore winds. The wind surge in this case leads to the formation of a band of clean cold water near the coast. A specific feature of the action of the northern and northwestern storms is the formation of a longshore jet stream along the western coast. The current occurs at the front of the upwelling zone. The stream transports the suspended matter offshore southward. The concentration of the suspended matter in this case is also much lower than when exposed to the southern winds, but it can reach a value of 3 mg/l.

The results of systematic (2003–2017) measurements of the total content and the volume mixing ratio of CO at Novolazarevskaya station with a spectrometer with a resolution of 0.2 cm^{– 1} are presented. The inverse problem of determining the total CO content, as well as interfering gases (H₂O and N₂O), was solved using the SFIT4 software package. Data analysis showed that over the measurement period the average total CO content at Novolazarevskaya amounted to (8 ± 2) 10¹⁷ molec/cm², and the average volume mixing ratio amounted to (37 ± 8) ppb. The obtained data are compared with variations in the total content of CO in Arrival-Heights station, with MOPITT satellite data, as well as with surface values of CO concentration at Syova station. The maximum values of CO are observed in September, the minimum — in January–February. For all the considered series, the trends are insignificant, while there are periods of increased CO content (2010). In recent years (2014–2017) there is a tendency towards an increase in the minimum values of CO. For  Novolazarevskaya and  Arrival-Heights satellite data are characterized by the excess of over ground data, amounting to 19% and 14%, respectively, while there is a seasonal dependence of the deviation with the minimum in December–January. Surface measurements of the total CO content are in fairly good agreement at Novolazarevskaya and Arrival-Heights, and since 2010 the average deviation is 2.4%. The average value of the concentration of CO on Syova 51 ppb is higher than the average volume mixing ratio at Novolazarevskaya. According to the spectral, wavelet and composite analyzes, in all the considered series there are oscillations in the range of 6–45 months with closely coinciding periods and phases.

In memory of A.S. Selivanov