Snow as a contributor to spring flooding in Belarus

Mapping the Characteristics of Snow Cover in Belarus

“…With the existing density of the meteorological network in local areas (20x20 km), there may be no weather stations at all. On this basis, the boundaries of the isocorrelate fields of the studied characteristics can be used as the boundaries of the regions [10]. The criterion (χ 2 ) is theoretically independent of the shape and orientation of the regions in space.…”

“…This is confirmed by the performed studies of snowfall synchronicity. In this study we determined some regions that include a certain number of control points [10].…”

“…They also can become a basis for creating maps of snow areas [16] which can be applied by engineers to assign snow load limits to buildings and structures. They are also relevant for environmental engineers to predict spring floods in rivers, which is an extremely important issue in Belarus [10,17].…”

“…In the 1930s snow surveying was introduced in addition to observations conducted with permanent snow stakes. Observations done with permanent snow stakes registered every day give us an idea of changes in snow height in winter but they do not show a pattern of its distribution on the ground [10,11].…”

Environmental Risks of the Pripyat River in a Changing Climate

“…Floods rank first among natural disasters in terms of the number of casualties and damage caused. At the same time, paradoxical as it may seem, until now there are no reliable long-term forecasts of their occurrence, reliable and generally accepted methods for calculating the damage caused by them and a generally accepted concept of protection [17].…”