Ice Regime of the Don Basin Rivers at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the phases of the ice regime and to compare the dynamics of ice formations on the Upper Don rivers on the border of the XX and XXI centuries. Materials and methods. The work is based on the materials of observations of ice phenomena at 4 hydraulic posts in the Lipetsk, Voronezh and Belgorod regions for 1950-2021. They were borrowed from the State Water Cadastre and the funds of the Russian Hydrometeorological Service. The analysis includes the dates of ice formation, the duration of the autumn and spring icefall, periods of freezing and ice phenomena. The initial information was processed using general geographic, computational, graphical, geographical, hydrological, and statistical methods. Results and discussion. The study of the ice regime of the Don River over the time periods 1950-1985 and 1986-2021 showed a shift in the date of occurrence of ice characteristics in autumn to a later date and earlier opening dates in spring with a change in their duration. There has been a reduction in the duration of stable ice formation to complete absence in Pavlovsk since 2014, Bobrov since 2018, Alekseevka since the 1980s. At the same time, the duration of the ice age has increased. The formation of continuous ice increases from 54 to 107 days downstream of the Don River in 1986-2021. Conclusion. The ice regime of the rivers of the Don Basin at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries is characterized by a significant transformation caused by climatic changes and anthropogenic infl uence on the catchment areas. Anomalous features, features, or new patterns have formed (complete absence of ice formation, changes in the timing and duration of ice formations, etc.), which are a response to modern climate challenges.