MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. The Lomonosov Moscow State University released an atlas describing hazardous exogenous processes in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the university's press service said.
The monographic atlas, which is publicly available, describes effects of temperature fluctuations, snow, water and air on the earth's surface. The book is based on field observations which the university's specialists conducted in Yamal since the 1990s, as well as on network observations at the Russian Hydrometeorological Service's stations, and on satellite image processing's results.
"The publication features detailed maps showing various types of hazardous exogenous processes, such as cryogenic processes, thermal erosion, coastal and ravine erosion, as well as delta processes," the university said.
The atlas is the first publication dedicated to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region and one of the few publications describing exogenous processes in the Russian Arctic.
"Some maps in the atlas are unique and they are published for the first time. For example, maps of planned extreme deformations of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region's rivers, highlighting areas of most active coastal retreat in the first quarter of the 21st century. Those are mostly areas of the biggest rivers - the Ob, the Nadym, the Pur and the Taz. On the Ob River, extreme retreats reach 6-10 meters per year, and the maximum retreat on the Bolshaya Ob River on the border with the Khanty·Mansi Autonomous Region exceeds 40 meters per year," the press service quoted the publication's executive editor, Professor of the Land Hydrology Department at the Moscow State University's Geography Department, Sergey Chalov, as saying.