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Climate discomfort map

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Discomfort of climate

The influence of climate on human beings manifests itself in a variety of fashions, primarily through man’s thermal state governed by external effects as well as by internal physiological processes. A comfortable perception of heat occurs when the input of heat and the thermal discharge in human body are in equilibrium. With an intensification of heat or cold, there is an increase in the tension of the physiological systems, which ensures this equilibrium. The intensity and duration of the impact from significant environmental parameters are responsible for the level of expenditures connected with the attainment of physiological comfort of the human life.

The number of days with normal-equivalent-effective temperature (NEET) above 8 °C is said to characterize indirectly the degree of comfort of a warm period for sensibly dressed people. The duration of periods with daily mean air temperatures below −25 °C and the sums above 10 °C represent the territory’s resources of heat and cold. The contrasts of the frost-free period determine the need for and the reliability of covering materials used in vegetable farming. In addition, a combination of low temperatures with wind velocity acts to enhance   heat output from open surfaces of human body. The risk of cold weather injuries when the values of reduced temperatures are below −32 °C serves as a forewarning in the case of arranging recreation and working in the open air [Khairullin and Karpenko, 2005]. The duration of the heating period makes it possible to calculate the future expenditures of heat necessary for heating various premises.

The spatial differentiation of the indices under consideration is important within the confines of the basin [Scientific-applied…, 1989, 1991; http://www.meteo.ru]. The mean daily temperature in the high mountains does not reach 10 °C, and its sum varies from 2400 °С in the southern part of the basin to 500 °С along the northeastern shores of Lake Baikal. The mean monthly NEET do not reach 8 °C in separate sections of the shores of Khovsgol and Baikal, and across the remaining territory they vary from 40 to 110 days. The frost-free period varies between 0 to 110 days. The smallest spatial fluctuations correspond to the duration of the heating season (230−305 days). The number of days with the mean daily air temperature below −25 °C is largest in the bottoms of closed depressions and valleys of the western part of the basin. With the wind factor taken into account, the differentiation of the severity of climate is enhanced. The mean values of reduced January temperature drop below −37 °C in Tosontsengel and Khatgal. In the former case, this is due to low air temperatures, whereas the increased wind activity is responsible for this in the latter case.

The combined effect of climatic resources has a substantial influence upon the aggregate volume of expenditures connected with the provision of physiological comfort for humans and the manufacture of products. The background characteristic features of the combined effect of the meteoparameters under consideration on humans and of their duration upon the degree of discomfort of habitation were revealed by using the resource-assessment approach [Bashalkhanova et al., 2012].

Throughout most of the basin’s territory the level of climatic discomfort is moderate, whereas it is strong on the northern, northwestern and western margins. The circle diagrams show the volume of the most differentiated parameters of climatic discomfort. The vertical axis is graduated in points from 1 to 5, and reflects the conditions of warm and cold periods. The diagrams corresponding to the most contrasting locations display the leading attributes of climatic discomfort of these territories.

A strong level of discomfort in the northern and western parts of the basin is due largely to the preceding low air temperatures, while on the shores of Khovsgol and in Tariat it is, to a larger extent, caused by a low heat availability in the summertime and, in the aggregate, by increased wind activity. The life of the population on such territories is more expensive and involves a limitation of the kinds of economic activities, shorter periods of stay in the open air, the requirement for a higher energy value of food, heat insulation of clothes and rooms, and a necessitous adjustment of production technologies, equipment and systems to low temperatures. On the other territory, the total duration of impacts of the parameters under consideration lies within moderate limits. The low duration of the period with NEET <5 °C (within 40−70 days) in the middle mountains is compensated by favorable winter conditions.

References

Bashalkhanova, L.B., Veselova, V.N. and Korytny, L.M., (2012). Resource Dimension of Social Conditions for the Life of the Population of East Siberia, Novosibirsk: Geo, 221 p.

Scientific-Applied Handbook on the USSR Climate. Ser. 3, Long-Term Data, Parts 1−6, (1989). Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1991, issue 22, 604 p.;, issue 23, 550 p.

Khairullin, K.Sh. and Karpenko, V.N., (2005). Bioclimatic resources of Russia, in Climatic Reources and Methods of Representing Them for Applied Purposes, St. Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat, pp. 25−46

VNIIGMI-WDC Data Archives. Retrieved from: http://www.meteo.ru

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Cloudiness map

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Cloud cover

Two maxima are recorded in the annual trend of cloud cover: summer (June-July) and pre-freeze-up (November-December). The latter prevails. The highest cloud cover values (7-8 oktas) and increased recurrence of overcast days (up to 75-80%) are registered in December on the north-eastern coast of the lake, whereas the lowest values (no higher than 4 oktas) are observed in February-March on the western shore, particularly within the territory of Maloye More (Small Sea). The foehn effect plays a significant role during the transfer of air masses over the Primorsky and Baikal Ridges, which causes a considerable drop of air humidity. In October-December, the cloud cover is very low above Lake Baikal due to the intense water evaporation from the ice free surface of the lake.

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Comfort of available housing (Mongolian part) map

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Urban amenities of the housing fund in Mongolia (78-2)

The map shows a proportion of households in the country (%) living in residential houses with foundations (in permanent buildings – multi-apartment and low-rise buildings). According to the estimates, they account for over 17% of the housing fund of the country. Living conditions of households (families) in Mongolia that are statistically observed include the following five conditions:

- Households with a reliable source of drinking water, including households that have a reliable source of drinking water connected to a centralized system, protected well, or spring, as well as households that use purified and bottled water;

- Households with a source of electricity (electricity is supplied by the state electric power system, diesel power plants, renewable electric energy facilities, and small power generators);

- Households with a sewage system (inside or outside the house, but used only by the household);

- Households with a centralized and non-centralized sewage system for the disposal of wastewater through the central sewage system, independent system of sewage disposal, or cesspool;

- Households dispose of solid wastes through service companies or transport solid wastes to the designated areas or landfills themselves.

In Mongolia, more than two fifths of households (42.3%) living in permanent structures (buildings) use a centralized sewerage system, 0.4% use an independent sewage system, almost a half of households (48.3%) discharge wastewater into cesspools and 9% – on the terrain (directly into the ground).

 

References

National Statistical Office of Mongolia. (2011). Population and housing census of Mongolia 2010: Housing conditions. Ulaanbaatar.

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