Promoting the recovery of forest management has been identified as a key priority by the Government of Mongolia. The objective of this paper is to define land cover classification and land cover change in Khandgait valley between 2000 and 2019. The study area is located in the North central part of Mongolia in Bulgan province. Landsat satellite images with 30m resolution were applied. For the validation, we used ground truth measurements. Maximum-likelihood method was applied in this study. The output map of land cover classification was analyzed and compared with the ground truth measurements. The results showed an overall accuracy of 86.5% and 89.0% for the 2000 and 2019 images, respectively. Land cover changes were quantitatively presented with the results of accuracy assessments between 2000 and 2019. In the future, we need to improve forest monitoring and analyze forest management using satellite images.
At present, the problem of climate change is becoming increasingly acute. This is especially pressing for Lake Baikal, a World Natural Heritage site. The Russian part of the Selenga watershed is a suitable site for climate change research. The study of changes in precipitation, runoff, and chemical runoff is important for sustainable water resources management. This study presents a trend analysis of precipitation and runoff at hydrological stations and weather stations in the Russian part of the Selenga River basin. A comparative analysis of the concentrations of major ions in the surface water of the Selenga River depending on water levels was also carried out. Analysis of the data series on precipitation revealed a slight negative trend at the Novoselenginsk, Ulan-Ude, and Kabansk stations, and a weak positive trend—at the Kyakhta station. Runoff analysis revealed negative trends at the two used stations (Novoselenginsk and Mostovoi). The hydrochemical regime of the Selenga River is characterized by an increase in major ions and salinity during winter low-water periods, and a decrease during high-water periods. Mineralization and major ion content are lower in the high-water period (2019–2021) than in the low-water period (2015–2017).
Desertification is one of the most complex environmental problems in the Central Asian region. In addition to climatic factors affecting land degradation, in the border territories of Russia and Mongolia the intensification of desertification processes is influenced by human activities. A cartographic analysis of meteorological parameters, as well as vegetation state and dynamics spatial distribution based on the NDVI, was carried out. Dry zones occupy 65% of the area of Russia-Mongolia border territories. The prevailing climate zone is a semi-arid. The features of the dynamics of vegetation in the wet (1982-1999) and drought (2000-2015) periods are revealed. In the period from 1982 to 2015 a positive trend of NDVI is observed for 78% of the border areas and negative is for 22%. During the wet period the area of negative trends for both Russia and Mongolia amount 1.5% of the territory, primarily due to deforestation. The drought period is characterized by a nearly twentyfold increase in the areas of negative NDVI trends for the whole border territory. The analysis of the correlation of meteorological parameters and vegetation revealed that in drylands with negative NDVI trend, climate-induced desertification covers 63%, and anthropogenic 37% of the total area affected by desertification.
The estimation of forest biomass using satellite data has received increasing attention for several reason in Mongolia. Since forest in Mongolia is decreasing and it is important to estimate forest resources using satellite data. This research aims to apply recently launched Sentinel-1B Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C-band and optical Sentinel-2B satellite data for estimation forest biomass and coverage and develop model for the study area. The study area is small scale forestry area named by Khanbuyan community, Bulgan province is situated in the Northern part of Mongolia. Boreal and montane forest belts of larch is dominated in this area. Sentinel-1B was used for estimation forest biomass and multispectral bands of Sentinel-2B applied for forest classification map. We used regression analysis to develop the model using Sentinel-1B and Sentinel-2B VV and VH polarizations for Sentinel-1B and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for Sentinel-2B were applied in this research. Ground truth data was collected in July 2016 and September 2016 for forest coverage and biomass measurements. NDVI and backscatter coefficients for polarizations VV and VH of Sentinel-1B 2016 were related to ground truth biomass for modeling. Comparison of the model and ground truth measurements for above ground biomass have a good agreement.
For the first time in the territory of the Russian Far East, a study related to the establishment of correlations between air quality and public health in Ulan-Ude (Buryatia, Russia) was carried out. This study is based on the analysis of official medical statistics on morbidity over several years, the data on the composition and volume of emissions of harmful substances into the air from various stationary sources, and laboratory measurements of air pollutants in different locations in Ulan-Ude. This study confirmed that the morbidity of the population in Ulan-Ude has been increasing every year and it is largely influenced by air pollutants, the main of which are benzo(a)pyrene, suspended solids, PM2.5, PM10, and nitrogen dioxide. It was found that the greatest contribution to the unfavorable environmental situation is made by three types of stationary sources: large heating networks, autonomous sources (enterprises and small businesses), and individual households. The main air pollutants whose concentrations exceed the limits are benzo(a)pyrene, formaldehyde, suspended particles PM2.5, PM10, and nitrogen dioxide. A comprehensive assessment of the content of various pollutants in the atmospheric air showed that levels of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks to public health exceeded allowable levels. Priority pollutants in the atmosphere of Ulan-Ude whose concentrations create unacceptable levels of risk to public health are benzo(a)pyrene, suspended solids, nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, PM10, formaldehyde, and black carbon. The levels of morbidity in Ulan-Ude were higher than the average for Buryatia by the main disease classes: respiratory organs—by 1.19 times, endocrine system—by 1.25 times, circulatory system—by 1.11 times, eye diseases—by 1.06 times, neoplasms—by 1.47 times, congenital anomalies, and deformations and chromosomal aberrations—by 1.63 times. There is an increase in the incidence of risk-related diseases of respiratory organs and the circulatory system. A strong correlation was found between this growth of morbidity and atmospheric air pollution in Ulan-Ude.
In this paper, we consider the effects of desertification in Mongolia, where the area of degraded land has increased significantly in the recent decade. Currently, almost the entire territory of the country is subject to varying degrees of degradation. The intensity of the desertification processes in different natural zones is influenced by both natural climatic and anthropogenic factors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of desertification on environmental and socio-economic living conditions, as well as on living standards of the local population. In this work, for the first time, the socio-economic aspects of desertification have been studied on a common methodological basis in different Mongolian aimags over a ten-year period. In order to carry out in-depth research, we used the submeridional and sublatitudinal principles for selecting the model study areas, as well as specific criteria and expert assessment. We used a sociological survey as the main method, based on a designed questionnaire, which was translated into Mongolian. The questionnaire includes questions regarding the influence of desertification on traditional nomadic farming, health of family members, water supply of households, water quality, living standards, etc. The results of the sociological surveys made it possible to draw conclusions on the impact of desertification on households, to identify the main problems of local people, and to describe the dynamics of the socio-economic status of the population living in the model areas. Our studies have demonstrated the intensification of the impact of desertification processes in different natural zones, administrative-territorial units and settlement systems in Mongolia.
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