Dynamics of main climatic indicators and their influence on erosion processes in central part of Rostov region

The purpose of the research was to study the impact of climatic factors on formation of meltwater runoff, and to establish changes in its indicators from arable land of varying degrees of compaction in the central part of the Rostov region. In the research, both long-term climatic data and current data on the weather conditions of the cold period of the year, intensity of erosion processes formed during snowmelt were used. A close mathematical relationship between the amount of runoff and water content in snow was revealed. Analysis of climatic data showed that the indicators of the cold period 1981–2020 were much higher than the similar indicators of 1881–1980. The greatest divergence was observed in the average temperature, so in the 40-year period this indicator was 1.5 °C, and the same indicator for the 100-year period was only –0.1 °C. There is an increase in temperature in December-­February period from –4.4 to –2.3 °C. Alongside with that, there was also an increase in precipitation for October-­March period and an increase in precipitation for December-­February period to 169 mm and 134, respectively, over a 100-year period. The analysis revealed a significant decrease in runoff indicators in the following twenty years. Thus, the amount of meltwater runoff from loose arable land decreased from 6.1 mm to 2.8 mm in 1981–2000, the values of water content in snow also significantly decreased in 2001–2020. The analysis of changes in the main climatic indicators revealed a significant increase in the air temperature of the cold period and increase in precipitation over the past 40 years. Meanwhile, there was a decrease in water content in snow, which resulted in significantly reduced amount of runoff formed from meltwater. This can largely be the result of both warming of climate in the studied area and favorable influence of anti-erosion measures carried out in the 1970s.