Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In spite of the very low mean temperatures in
winter, there have been occasions when maxima
have exceeded 4°C during incursions of maritime
Atlantic air. Such variability is not found in
eastern Siberia, which is intensely continental,
apart from the Kamchatka Peninsula, with the
Northern Hemisphere's
cold pole
located in the
remote northeast (see
Figure 3.11A
). Verkhoyansk
and Oimyakon have a January mean of -50
frosts 50 percent of the time during six months of
the year, but very warm summers (
Figure 10.37
).
3 The polar regions
Common to both polar regions is the semi-annual
alternation between polar night and polar day,
and the prevalence of snow and ice surfaces. These
factors control the surface energy budget regimes
and low annual temperatures (see
Chapter 10B
).
The polar regions are also energy sinks for the
global atmospheric circulation (see
Chapter 7C.1
)
C,
and both have recorded an absolute minimum of
-67.7
°
C. Stations located in the valleys of northern
Siberia record, on average, strong to extreme
°
MOSCOW
MURMANSK
JJ
TURUKHANSK
JJ
CAPE CHELYUSKIN
JJ
VERKHOYANSK
JJ
OKHOTSK
%
J
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
FM
A
M
A
S O N D
J
FM
A
M
ASOND
J
FM
A
M
A
S O N D
J
FM
A
M
A
S O N D
J
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
100
50
0
HOT AND DRY
MOIST AND HOT OR SUNNY
OVERCAST OR RAINY
WEAK TO MODERATE FROSTS
STRONG TO EXTREME FROSTS
mm
mm
200
200
100
100
mm
0
200
0
100
mm
200
0
mm
100
mm
200
mm
200
200
0
100
100
100
AUGUST
mm
mm
0
200
mm
200
0
200
0
mm
100
100
AUG
200
100
JUNE
mm
0
200
0
mm
100
JULY
0
200
DEC
100
mm
0
100
200
SEPT
0
JULY
mm
0
100
300
200
0
mm
mm
200
200
MAY
100
mm
100
OCT
100
JUNE
300
0
mm
0
200
200
0
NOV
100
100
mm
APRIL
200
0
0
100
0
MARCH
%
100
50
0
J
YALTA
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
YEREVAN
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
TASHKENT
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
OMSK
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
KRASNOYARSK
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
J
VLADIVOSTOK
FM
A
M
JJ
A
S O N D
Figure 10.37
Months of maximum precipitation, annual regimes of mean monthly precipitation and annual
regimes of mean monthly frequencies of five main weather types in the former USSR.
Source: Reprinted from P. E. Lydolph (1977) with kind permission from Elsevier Science NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV Amsterdam,
the Netherlands.
