Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution

A reliable technique has been devised for a simultaneous total and serial retrospective assessment of the ever increasing pollution of lands from aerospace images and from benchmark ground-based observations which permit calculations of the negative human impact on the environment for the particular...

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Main Author: V. R. Alekseev
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Nauka 2015-04-01
Series:Лëд и снег
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/92
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author V. R. Alekseev
author_facet V. R. Alekseev
author_sort V. R. Alekseev
collection DOAJ
description A reliable technique has been devised for a simultaneous total and serial retrospective assessment of the ever increasing pollution of lands from aerospace images and from benchmark ground-based observations which permit calculations of the negative human impact on the environment for the particular regions, river drainage basins, states, and for the planet Earth as a whole. Use is made of the glacio-indication approach to the study of polluted territories around cities and transport routes that has come to be known as the «ProcUsmethod». An assessment of the land pollution across the globe was made for 221 administrative entities. Calculations were done for 193 states and 41 trust territories. The total area of polluted lands on the continents was estimated at 13 606 thousand km2 (10% of the Earth’s land surface). The heaviest pollution corresponds to West Europe (44.5% of its area), Micronesia (33.3%), and to the countries within the Caribbean basin (31.1%); the worst levels of land pollution correspond to Australia with New Zealand (2.1%), Melanesia (3.1%), and to Central Africa (3.8%). The most heavily polluted states are China (with the polluted area of 2400 thou km2), India (1460 thou km2), the USA (1156 thou km2), Russia (683 thou km2) and Brazil (657 thou km2).The findings, obtained by the Russian scientists V.G. Prokacheva and V.F. Usachev over the course of the last 30 years, are recognized as a fundamental contribution to glaciology and geoecology. The ProcUs method, suggested by Russian scientists, offers strong possibilities of obtaining quantitative indicators and studying spatiotemporal variability of pollutants. It is recommended that the method should be expanded and sophisticated on the basis of special-purpose ground-truth pilot observations to be used in implementing the Earth’s global ecological monitoring program.
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spelling doaj-art-d8bce5b32a764cbf9ba47b8daea0cdd82025-08-20T03:00:49ZrusNaukaЛëд и снег2076-67342412-37652015-04-0153112714010.15356/2076-6734-2013-1-127-14086Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollutionV. R. Alekseev0Institute of Permafrost Studies (Yakutsk) and Institute of Geography (Irkutsk), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of SciencesA reliable technique has been devised for a simultaneous total and serial retrospective assessment of the ever increasing pollution of lands from aerospace images and from benchmark ground-based observations which permit calculations of the negative human impact on the environment for the particular regions, river drainage basins, states, and for the planet Earth as a whole. Use is made of the glacio-indication approach to the study of polluted territories around cities and transport routes that has come to be known as the «ProcUsmethod». An assessment of the land pollution across the globe was made for 221 administrative entities. Calculations were done for 193 states and 41 trust territories. The total area of polluted lands on the continents was estimated at 13 606 thousand km2 (10% of the Earth’s land surface). The heaviest pollution corresponds to West Europe (44.5% of its area), Micronesia (33.3%), and to the countries within the Caribbean basin (31.1%); the worst levels of land pollution correspond to Australia with New Zealand (2.1%), Melanesia (3.1%), and to Central Africa (3.8%). The most heavily polluted states are China (with the polluted area of 2400 thou km2), India (1460 thou km2), the USA (1156 thou km2), Russia (683 thou km2) and Brazil (657 thou km2).The findings, obtained by the Russian scientists V.G. Prokacheva and V.F. Usachev over the course of the last 30 years, are recognized as a fundamental contribution to glaciology and geoecology. The ProcUs method, suggested by Russian scientists, offers strong possibilities of obtaining quantitative indicators and studying spatiotemporal variability of pollutants. It is recommended that the method should be expanded and sophisticated on the basis of special-purpose ground-truth pilot observations to be used in implementing the Earth’s global ecological monitoring program.https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/92geoecologyglacio-indicationpollution of landssnow cover pollutionremote studies from spacesnow
spellingShingle V. R. Alekseev
Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
Лëд и снег
geoecology
glacio-indication
pollution of lands
snow cover pollution
remote studies from space
snow
title Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
title_full Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
title_fullStr Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
title_full_unstemmed Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
title_short Snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
title_sort snow cover as an indicator of cumulative land pollution
topic geoecology
glacio-indication
pollution of lands
snow cover pollution
remote studies from space
snow
url https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/92
work_keys_str_mv AT vralekseev snowcoverasanindicatorofcumulativelandpollution