STUDY OF SNOW COVER IN THE TERRITORY OF THE ZHAIYK RIVER BASIN

Abstract

The paper studies of the snow cover on the territory of the Zhaiyk river basin, which includes the following natural landscape zones: Mugodzhar Mountains, the Ural plateau, the Caspian lowland. The main task of this work is to determine the spatial variability of snow cover characteristics (snow cover height, snow water supply) and their temporal changes in the Zhaiyk River basin. The main source of studying the snow cover is the materials of direct observations on the hydrometeorological network of weather stations. Data on snow cover are taken from 1977 to 2020. The initial materials used were the dates of establishment and descent of a stable snow cover, the height of the snow on a constant rail, the density and water supply in the snow at 23 meteorological stations. According to the data for the last 40 years for the territory of the Zhaiyk river basin, it was found out that the dates of formation and destruction of the snow cover shifted in one direction, and the number of days with snow cover and the height of the snow cover did not change significantly.