Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI): Focus on Dry Lands

NEESPI is an interdisciplinary program of internationally-supported Earth systems and science research that addresses large-scale and long-term manifestations of climate and environmental change over Northern Eurasia (http://neespi.org). The NEESPI Study Area includes: Former Soviet Union, Northern China, Mongolia, Fennoscandia, and Eastern Europe. Presentation will focus on the rationale of the initiative, its major steps, and plans for the future within the expansive dry land areas of Northern Eurasia in the southern boundary of the forest zone, forest-steppe, steppe, semi-desert, and desert climatic zones. The drought (xeric) limit of closed forests, an ecologically very sensitive zone, is present in nearly all of the countries within the latitudinal belt from 40° to 55°N in Eurasia - or if not, its appearance is predicted. According to predictions, increasing frequency of droughts and sinking groundwater levels may threaten the stability of forest ecosystems of this zone. These changes forecast specific problems not only for forestry itself, but also regarding the multitude of ecological services provided by forests for the society. In addition, we present our latest results on the changes in the warm season characteristics over the dry land zone within the former USSR during the period of instrumental observations (50 to 100 years). These include: changes in the precipitation distribution (an increase of the frequency of heavy and extreme precipitation with a simultaneous increase of the duration of the no-rain periods); earlier onset of the vegetation period; earlier spring snow cover retreat; and changes in indices that characterize "fire weather" and agricultural droughts (more humid weather conditions west of the Ural Mountains and drier weather conditions over most of northern Asia).