Hydrological Regime of the Lower Volga River under Modern Conditions

Abstract

The regularities of changes in the parameters of the hydrological regime of the Lower Volga are considered using data of routine observations at gaging stations and data of field studies carried out by the specialists of Zubov State Oceanographic Institute in 2006–2017. The main modern trends are revealed for runoff and water level, water temperature, and ice phenomena as well as for the duration of flooding of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain during the spring flood. The parameters are compared for natural and regulated Volga River runoff conditions. It is shown that considerable variation in the duration of flooding of floodplains, in water temperature, and heat flow during the spring flood under modern conditions is caused both by runoff operation and by increase in the anthropogenic load on the area of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain in the recent decades.