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Patterns of territorial combinations of conditions and factors of the development of environmental problems in the Baikal basin are, to a large extent, determined by the basin’s location in the northern temperate latitudes of Eurasia, in its inner ultracontinental sector, and by its natural isolation from adjacent territories. The Baikal basin has all the features of the landscape and ecological integrity and economic and cultural unity. The region is home to one of the world's major watershed divides between the catchment areas of the Arctic Ocean (the Yenisei and Lena basins), Pacific Ocean (the Amur basin), and the drainless region of Central Asia. It is precisely here, on orographic barriers, where airflows from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Arctic, and southern territories subside.

Lake Baikal is the oldest, deepest, and largest by volume lake among the great rift lakes of the world. The lake is situated at an elevation of 455.5 meters above sea level, between 51°28’ - 55°47’N and 103°43’ - 109°58’E. The Baikal basin's catchment area is located in the heart of Asia on the territory of two states – Russia and Mongolia - between 46°20’ - 56°40’N and 96°50’ - 114°10’E. It has an elongated shape stretching from southwest to northeast. The total area of the Baikal basin is 576.5 sq. km, including the water area of Lake Baikal - 31.7 sq. km. 44.6 % of the catchment area is located in the Russian Federation (31.8 % in the Republic of Buryatia, 10.2 % in Zabaikalsky krai, 2.2 % in Irkutsk oblast, and 0.4 % in the Republic of Tuva) and 55.4 % in Mongolia. About 53 % of the volume of river water is formed in Buryatia, 27 % in Mongolia, 16 % in Zabaikalsky krai, and 4 % in Irkutsk oblast.

In general, due to its geographical and geopolitical location, as well as natural, resource, economic, ethnic, cultural, and human resources potential and the lake itself, the Baikal basin represents a key strategic region in eastern Russia and northern Mongolia - a major foothold for social and economic development of the two countries. However, such development has its own peculiarities, because the Baikal basin has a special regime of natural resources management. The fact that Lake Baikal and its surrounding territory was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has attracted attention of the global community. It also underlined the role of the great lake as both a unique natural phenomenon and a place for establishing a recreation zone of the planetary significance, as well as a source of the exclusively eco-oriented land management and business in the future. Over the long term, in the context of the growing deficit of freshwater in the world, Lake Baikal’s water will become the most important strategic resource of the world. Therefore, the water factor of development is a priority. Reproduction and recovery of the lake’s water take place on the territory of the whole Baikal basin, which predetermines a particular attention towards nature protection in this region and dictates the prohibition of numerous types of production in order to prevent environmental pollution and preserve the Baikal water for humankind. Presently, the necessity of nature protection activities for maintaining the unmatched biological and landscape diversity of the lake's basin has emerged as a result of the intensive use of natural resources in different parts of the basin, where anthropogenic impact of varying degree and type is observed. Only responsible use of the complex of adaptive techniques and methods of organization of economic activity with due consideration to the special environmental and resource-related role and strategic importance of the Baikal region can make it, as early as in the first third of the 21st century, one of the full-fledged subjects of economic, geopolitical, and geo-demographic processes and relations of global significance. The Ecological Atlas of the Baikal Basin will be quite helpful in this endeavor. For the first time ever, the maps of this Atlas will reflect spatial patterns of the development of the environmental situation within the whole catchment basin of Lake Baikal and its water area, which makes it possible to define and substantiate the directions of environmentally balanced and sustainable territorial development of Russia and Mongolia in the future.

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Patterns of territorial combinations of conditions and factors of the development of environmental problems in the Baikal basin are, to a large extent, determined by the basin’s location in the northern temperate latitudes of Eurasia, in its inner ultracontinental sector, and by its natural isolation from adjacent territories. The Baikal basin has all the features of the landscape and ecological integrity and economic and cultural unity. The region is home to one of the world's major watershed divides between the catchment areas of the Arctic Ocean (the Yenisei and Lena basins), Pacific Ocean (the Amur basin), and the drainless region of Central Asia. It is precisely here, on orographic barriers, where airflows from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Arctic, and southern territories subside.

Lake Baikal is the oldest, deepest, and largest by volume lake among the great rift lakes of the world. The lake is situated at an elevation of 455.5 meters above sea level, between 51°28’ - 55°47’N and 103°43’ - 109°58’E. The Baikal basin's catchment area is located in the heart of Asia on the territory of two states – Russia and Mongolia - between 46°20’ - 56°40’N and 96°50’ - 114°10’E. It has an elongated shape stretching from southwest to northeast. The total area of the Baikal basin is 576.5 sq. km, including the water area of Lake Baikal - 31.7 sq. km. 44.6 % of the catchment area is located in the Russian Federation (31.8 % in the Republic of Buryatia, 10.2 % in Zabaikalsky krai, 2.2 % in Irkutsk oblast, and 0.4 % in the Republic of Tuva) and 55.4 % in Mongolia. About 53 % of the volume of river water is formed in Buryatia, 27 % in Mongolia, 16 % in Zabaikalsky krai, and 4 % in Irkutsk oblast.

In general, due to its geographical and geopolitical location, as well as natural, resource, economic, ethnic, cultural, and human resources potential and the lake itself, the Baikal basin represents a key strategic region in eastern Russia and northern Mongolia - a major foothold for social and economic development of the two countries. However, such development has its own peculiarities, because the Baikal basin has a special regime of natural resources management. The fact that Lake Baikal and its surrounding territory was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has attracted attention of the global community. It also underlined the role of the great lake as both a unique natural phenomenon and a place for establishing a recreation zone of the planetary significance, as well as a source of the exclusively eco-oriented land management and business in the future. Over the long term, in the context of the growing deficit of freshwater in the world, Lake Baikal’s water will become the most important strategic resource of the world. Therefore, the water factor of development is a priority. Reproduction and recovery of the lake’s water take place on the territory of the whole Baikal basin, which predetermines a particular attention towards nature protection in this region and dictates the prohibition of numerous types of production in order to prevent environmental pollution and preserve the Baikal water for humankind. Presently, the necessity of nature protection activities for maintaining the unmatched biological and landscape diversity of the lake's basin has emerged as a result of the intensive use of natural resources in different parts of the basin, where anthropogenic impact of varying degree and type is observed. Only responsible use of the complex of adaptive techniques and methods of organization of economic activity with due consideration to the special environmental and resource-related role and strategic importance of the Baikal region can make it, as early as in the first third of the 21st century, one of the full-fledged subjects of economic, geopolitical, and geo-demographic processes and relations of global significance. The Ecological Atlas of the Baikal Basin will be quite helpful in this endeavor. For the first time ever, the maps of this Atlas will reflect spatial patterns of the development of the environmental situation within the whole catchment basin of Lake Baikal and its water area, which makes it possible to define and substantiate the directions of environmentally balanced and sustainable territorial development of Russia and Mongolia in the future.

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Flow

The map “Mean annual flow” reflects the formation patterns of the water regime of the territory, which are determined by the properties of landscapes to transform atmospheric moisture into the runoff.

For a water body basin, the surface runoff is the total amount of water loss from the watershed landscapes. The runoff rate from landscape complexes is determined by solving the inverse problem, i.e. identification of the connection of flow rate at the main stream station of a catchment with the runoff from landscapes, occupying its area, and is calculated based on the equation Q_j = ∑q_i f_ij, where j is the index of the river basin, Q_j is its runoff, L/s; q_i is a modification of flow from the i-th landscape complex, L/s km²; f_ij is an area of the j-th basin occupied by the i-th landscape, km². Long-term average runoff data for small and medium-sized rivers of theLake Baikal basin were used in calculations for the map construction [Long-term…, 1986, http://www.r-arcticnet.sr.unh.edu]. Characteristics of landscape components were obtained on the basis of the materials on landscape of the Baikal region [Landscapes…, 1977, Natural..., 2009, Landscapes…, 1990, Lysanova et al., 2009]. In accordance with the regional dimension, generalization degree is chosen at the geom level, and their average annual flow moduli are determined. The territory on the map is divided into regions according to five gradations of the module - from less than 1 to more than 10 L/s km².

The catchment area of the lake covers a variety of landscape zones and altitudinal belts, which makes a great contrast between the runoff rates. The highest annual flow moduli are formed within the goletz and mountain-taiga landscapes. Steppe and forest-steppe areas are distinguished by the minimum runoff rates, and in the desert regions of Mongolia (the Selenga river basin) flow formation almost does not take place.

The maps of minimum and maximum flow were compiled based on the typological landscape classification represented on the map [Landscapes…, 1977]. In the course of investigation, landscapes of different types were generalized by identifying the most hydrologically informative properties (morphological characteristics, vegetation structure, altitudinal zonation, etc.). As a result, more than 200 landscapes were combined into sixteen types of natural complexes, and runoff rates were determined for them. The moduli of maximum snow runoff and minimum summer runoff were calculated as described above.

Areas with the highest runoff of floods are confined to the mountain ranges and systems with goletz open woodlands and mountain-taiga landscapes. The main areas, distinguished by formation of frequent and high floods are the Baikalsky Range on the north-eastern end of the lake; Barguzinsky Range, located in the south-eastern part of the catchment, and the Khamar-Daban, covering the south-western shore of Lake Baikal. The values of the maximum flow modification are shown in three gradations on the map, namely: less than 25, 25-70, and more than 100 L/s km².

Features of formation of the minimum summer runoff in the Baikal basin are associated with the regime of atmospheric moisture, as well as with the effects of altitude and exposition. The calculations and analysis of the minimum summer runoff have shown a relatively high water yield in the low-flow period from high-mountain taiga landscapes and extremely low river flow formation in the central areas of the Selenga river catchment and in Priolkhonie, which are covered with light coniferous landscapes and steppe complexes on slopes and plains. The map shows the value of the minimum flow in three gradations, namely: less than 1.5, 3.0-5.0, and more than 5.0 L/s km².

Landscape-hydrological mapping based on the quantitative characteristics of water yield of landscape complexes objectively reflects the hydrological organization of the territory.

References

Kuznetsova T.I. (2009). Map "Natural landscapes of the Baikal region and their use: purpose, structure, and content”.  T.I. Kuznetsova, A.R. Batuev, and A.V. Bardash. Geodeziya i kartografiya, , no 9, pp. 18-28.

Landscapes of southern East Siberia [Maps]: [physical map] (1977) / compiled and prep. for printing by factory no. 4 GUGK in 1976, authors: V.S. Mikheev and V.A. Ryashin. 1: 1 500 000, Moscow: GUGK, 1 map (4 sheets): col.

Landscapes [Maps] [physical map] / The National Atlas of the Mongolian People's Republic. / comp .and prep to print by GUGK in 1989, authors: B.M. Ishmuratov, K.N. Misevich, I.L. Savelyeva, et al.

Lysanova, G.I., Semenov, Yu.M., Shekhovtsov, A.I., and Sorokovoy, A.A. (2013). Geosystems of the Republic of Tuva. Geografiya i prirodnye resursy, no. 3, pp. 181-185.

Long-term data on the regime and surface water resources. The Baikal basin. (1986). Vol. 1, no. 14, Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 361 p.

A Regional, Electronic, Hydrographic Data Network For the Arctic Region. URL: http://www.r-arcticnet.sr.unh.edu