The Impact of Climatic Humidity of the Southeastern Part of Western Siberia on Spring Deficit of Moisture in the Profiles of Eroded Chernozems

Abstract

Noneroded and eroded chernozems in the southeast of Western Siberia are characterized by the great moisture deficit at the beginning of the winter season. By the end of the cold period, water reserves in the snow are sufficient to compensate for this deficit. However, snowmelt saturates only the upper 50 cm of the soil profiles. After the snowmelt season, soil moisture storage in the layers of 50–100 and 100–150 cm is equal to the pre-winter storage; in some years, it is even lower. The impermeable ice layer in the soil prevents full absorption of the snowmelt. The analysis of 80-year-long data on winter precipitation in three major geomorphic areas of the southeast of Western Siberia (Novosibirsk Ob region, Cis-Salair region, and Kuznetsk Depression) made it possible to distinguish between four climatic cycles—low-snow (1938–1962), normal snow (1963–1988), high-snow (1988–2012), and the current very high-snow (since 2013)—in all these regions.