The area of deserts and semi-deserts in Russia increases by 550 square kilometres each year, covering more and more territories in the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, as well as in the republics of Kalmykia and Dagestan.
Scientists from the Southern Federal University came to this conclusion after studying the speed and scale of climate change in Southern Russia from 1961 to 2020. The reason for the onset of deserts is most likely due to global warming.
From 1961 to 2020, the average annual air temperature in southern regions increased at an average rate of 0.31 degrees Celsius per decade. This is a significant increase.
Scientists also found out that due to warming, the territory of the bioclimatic zone of the desert and semi-desert from 2010 to 2020 significantly expanded from east to west and covered almost the entire territory of the Astrakhan region, most of the Republic of Kalmykia, as well as certain areas of the Volgograd region and the Republic of Dagestan, rg.ru reports.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
