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The authors explore a new approach to monitoring of desertification that is based on use of results on the relation between albedo and surface temperature for the Sonoran Desert in northwestern Mexico. The criteria of predominance of radiation by using the threshold value of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were determined. The radiation mechanism for regulating the temperature of the surface and the definition of threshold values for AVHRR and MODIS NDVI have an objective justification for the energy budget, which is based on the dominance of radiation surface temperature regulation in relation to evapotranspiration. Changes in the extent of arid regions with AVHRR NDVI of ,0.08 and MODIS NDVI of ,0.10 can be considered to be a characteristic in the evolution of desertification in the Sonoran Desert region. This is true because, in a certain year, the time span of the period when radiation factor predominates is important for the desertification process.

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Te space-time dynamics of the occurrence of winter extreme events is investigated on the territory of Russia in 1970-2015 on the basis of daily observations at weather stations. It was found that a whole on the territory a noticeable increase in the occurrence of days with extremely high daily temperatures and daily precipitation and a decrease in the occurrence of extremely cold days was noted. Te most noticeable changes happened in the European part of Russia, where at the beginning of the XXI century occurrence of the extremes was greater than during the previous thirty years. Note also that at the beginning of XXI century in Southern Siberia increase of occurrences of both daily maximum and daily minimum temperature was concurrent. Tis combination appears to be caused by the increase in temperature variability in the region due to the alternation of winters with extreme frosts and warmer and wet winters. Te increase in the frequency of extremely high temperatures in the European part of Russia could have been caused by both general warming and the increased influence of AMO. An increase in the frequency of extreme high and low temperatures in the south of Siberia may be due to the formation of an anticyclonic circulation anomaly with a center near the coast of the Kara Sea, which is responsible for advection of cold air masses from the northeast. As well as cyclonic formation in southern Siberia, along the eastern periphery of which temperate latitudes can receive anomalously warm air from the subtropics.