Vol 42, No 3 (2017)

Two opposite Far East monsoon summer seasons over the Amur River basin are investigated which caused the extreme drought and fires in 2008 and catastrophic flood in 2013. It is shown that in the low-water summer of 2008 due to blocking processes, polar-front cyclones were almost absent over the Amur, were short, had fuzzy frontal systems, and did not bring precipitation. The summer monsoon circulation was suppressed, and in the Amur region continental air masses dominated over marine tropical air. On the contrary, the summer of 2013 was characterized by unprecedented cyclonic activity and the sharp strengthening ofthe moisture-laden monsoon flow from the ocean. As a result, the intensification of summer monsoon precipitation and the Amur flood were observed. It was established that the Far East summer monsoon anomalies are associated with the large-scale transformation of atmospheric circulation over the Asia-Pacific region.

The problem ofcloud data retrieval for the periods between the fixed terms ofobservations from geostationary satellites is solved using the differential methods for the optical flow. To solve the problem, the possibility of using different methods for computing cloud motion vectors is investigated. The estimates of the accuracy of computed vectors based on artificially generated test sequences are presented. The test results reveal that the accuracy of the optical flow calculation with the modt fied Brox’s method excels the other mentioned methods. The software is implemented for creating the smooth animation of cloud movement using the modified Brox’s method.

The variability of upwelling events in the coastal zone of Primorye in the northwestern part of the Sea of Japan is studied using the SeaWinds/QuikSCAT scatterometer wind data for the period of 1999-2009. The intensity of upwelling is defined by the wind-induced offshore Ekman transport (the upwelling index). It was found that along the southern coast of Primorye upwelling events occur from September to March (April). The winter monsoon period is the most favorable for the upwelling development. In the eastern part of the coastal zone of Primorye upwelling is observed in transitional seasons between winter and summer monsoon (February-April and September-October). On the northeastern coast of Primorye, the upwelling season is from August to October (November). The common feature of the coastal zone of Primorye is a wind-driven upwelling in autumn (September-October). The interannual variability of winter upwelling along the southern coast of Primorye is related to the East Asia high pressure center (the Siberian High). The upwelling intensifies in the years with positive air pressure anomalies in the Siberian High and weakens in the years with negative anomalies.

Interannual and interdecadal variability of soil moisture in the European part of Russia in summer months is investigated using the data for 1948-2012. It is found that the two first empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) describe about 50% of total variability of soil moisture. The spatial pattern of the first EOF is indicative of coherent changes in soil moisture in the whole European part of Russia. The second EOF is represented by the meridional dipole with the opposite signs of soil moisture variations in the northern and southern parts of the region. It is revealed that the spatiotemporal pattern of the principal EOFs of soil moisture variability in the European part of Russia almost does not vary during summer that is indicative of the uniform (for each EOF) mechanism of the formation of interan-nual variability of soil moisture.