Atlas

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The Aesthetic Image of the Baikal Coastal Area

Riviera - an aesthetically holistic coastal territory, where, provided that the specifics of visual perception are duly considered, the integrity, beauty, and picturesqueness of spatial processes of interaction between settlements and the coast is reflected through the development of cultural recreation landscapes.

The map of the coastal organization is created as a result of the landscape and architectural assessment that evaluated not only functional and utilitarian requirements reflecting current transportation, communication, and settlement situations, but also aesthetic, architectural, and artistic (scenic) qualities of landscapes and conditions of their development within the belt of the best visual perception.

Structurally, this map represents a system of landscape and architectural centers, axes, zones, and basins. Two zones are identified in the belt of visual perception (approx. 8 km wide): the zone of the best visual perception and the zone for developing visual perception (inset) that include the main types of natural landscapes assessed by their aesthetic value. Segments of the Baikal coastal area are considered as the landscape and architectural basins. Visually, they are relatively homogeneous and located within the open or closed angles of view from recreation centers and settlements and from some segments of highways.

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Forest cover

Forest cover is a parameter reflecting the ratio of the total forested area (on forest lands and lands of other categories where forests are located) to the area of the municipality (district or aimak). Forest cover is an important indicator characterizing the forest availability, and, consequently, the ecological security and the features of the socio-economic development of a territory.

Average forest cover of the Baikal basin within the Russian territory is 62.5 %. Forest cover fluctuates here from 26.4 % in Kyakhtinsky district, located in the steppe part of the Republic of Buryatia, to 82-89 % in Krasnochikoysky, Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky, Uletovsky, and Khiloksky districts of Zabaikalsky krai. In Mongolia, the average forest cover is significantly lower than in the Russian part of the basin amounting to 11.5 %, and it ranges from 0.75 % (Uverkhangay aimak) to 35.0 % (Darkhan aimak).

Over the last decade (2000-2010) a decrease in forest cover in the most developed parts of the Baikal watershed basin is registered. This is associated with the reduction of forested lands due to areas, subjected to fire, cutting, and insect pests.

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Air temperature

Lake Baikal influences the climate of the surrounding area within the Baikal hollow. The climate of inland areas of Irkutsk oblast, Republic of Buryatia, Zabaikalsky krai, and Mongolia may be called sharply continental, and the climate of the shore of Lake Baikal is close to the coastal one. Winter month’s temperature on the shores of southern Baikal is on average 5°C higher than in the central areas, and summer month’s temperature is lower at the same rate. In summer temperature inversions are observed over the cold lake surface that impedes upward motions. The set of radiation and circulating factors and local conditions determine the features of the thermal regime.

In winter, due to the predominance of anticyclonic weather, the air temperature depends mainly on the radiation conditions, and the air cools over the underlying surface. In summer, radiation factors also play a dominant role in the temperature regime formation.

Long-term mean annual temperature is almost everywhere negative. At stations located on the shores of Lake Baikal, air temperature is higher than on the continental stations located at the same latitudes. The coldest month is January, and the warmest one is July.