Impact of the Zeya reservoir on the phytoproduction process in mountain-forest landscapes of the Tukuringra Range

Study of the environmental impact of water reservoirs became a key research direction in the 1960s‒70s in connection with the design of the Nizhneobskaya hydroelectric power station, as well as the transfer of the Pechora and Vychegda rivers into the designed Verkhne-Kamskoye reservoir to regulate the Caspian Sea level. The knowledge of plain reservoirs clearly exceeded that of mountain and foothill reservoirs, such as, for example, the Zeya reservoir. Based on the dendrochronologic analysis of about 1000 cores, mainly of Gmelin larch, collected in the altitudinal belts of the Tukuringra and Soktakhan ranges, the chronologies were constructed. Climatic data from the Zeya city meteorological station (at 230 m above sea level) were used, as well as the ERA5 climatic data – the global reanalysis of the fifth generation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Against the background warming in the region of about 3°C over the past 65 years, the territory near the reservoir is excessively heating up. Average monthly air temperatures before and after the construction of the reservoir are given. In July-October they became 0,5‒0,9°C higher. The increase in air temperature in the coastal zone is due to the very low water exchange coefficient of the reservoir (0,3). Landscape profiles within the presumed influence zone of the reservoir have recorded an increase in the phytoproduction process at the altitude of 310 m above sea level for northwestern slopes (Tukuringra range) and southeastern slopes (Soktakhan range), a slight increase at the altitude of 420 m a. s. l. and no increase at the altitude of 570 m a. s. l. Outside the influence zone, in the valley of the Alenga River, the phytoproductivity after the creation of the reservoir is synchronous on different slopes, but without a pronounced influence of the reservoir. Due to the slow water exchange in the Zeya Reservoir in the period from July to mid-September the upper water layer warmed up to +21°C, thus affecting the climate of the coastal zone up to 420 m a. s. l. Against the global climate change, the air temperature in the summer and autumn periods is higher in the influence zone of the artificial water reservoir. Mountain reservoirs have a local, but more intense influence compared with plain ones.

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