География

The study continues to identify the typical interval between cities on major rivers in the search for patterns in the organization of geospatial elements, including point (cities) and linear (rivers) objects. It is stated that the latter are divided into approximately equal segments measured by the river (inter-city intervals). This article examines the features of urban population distribution along the banks of six major rivers in Europe. Typical inter-city intervals were identified for them.

The manifestations of climate change in the regularities of the wind regime in the territory of Syunik marz of Armenia are considered. Monthly wind data for the period 1966–2018 of six weather stations were used as a source material. It was found that at all meteostations, except for Kapan, currently operating in the territory of Syunik marz there is a tendency towards a decrease in wind speed for 1966–2018.

The article presents the results of landscape-ecological studies of the site of the natural monument “Chalk slopes with calcephil plants near town Volsk” in the Saratov region. For the first time, the facies rows of the chalk buttes of the Volsky Pre-Volga region are identified, their characteristics are presented, and the conservational risks to calciphytic diversity are indicated.

The analysis of the current demographic situation is relevant since both demographic and migration growth are negative in the region. This article analyzes the main indicators of the demographic development of the region in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic against the background of previous years.

The analysis of changes in alcohol consumption by the population of Russia for the period from January 2019 to December 2020 in the context of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic was made. The main psychological and social reasons for the increase in the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption during this period are considered, and a discrepancy between the annual dynamics of alcoholic beverages sales and the development of the epidemic is revealed.

The article presents the results of atmochemical and lithochemical analysis of dust particles in the surface air layer and dust estimates along road curbs in the main types of urban landscape areas in the central part of Saratov.

The Earth’s climate system (ECS) is considered as a linear system whose input is a change in the solar constant ?I( t) and the output is an anomaly of the globally averaged surface temperature ?T( t). The system input can be affected by other factors, and at the output their own temperature fluctuations and a random noise manifest themselves. All these factors are assumed to be independent of ?I( t). The spectral analysis of monthly mean values of ?I( t) and ?T( t) shows the existence of statistically significant coherence.

A comparison of average daily values time series of the axial component of the global wind angular moment and galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux was made. Using the superposed epoch method it is shown that the Forbush decreases of the GCR flux are accompanied by an increase in the average angular velocity of atmospheric circulation and, accordingly, by an increase in the zonal transfer.

The article deals with the studies of the bed load of watercourses on the territory of the city of Volsk (Saratov region). The research shows that quartz to be the most widespread rock-forming mineral. As the proportion of quartz decreases, the calcite content increases. Ecologicalgeochemical state of the bed load in spring worsens as compared to summer due to the arrival of pollutants with melting snow from the urban watershed. The bed load with a high content of pollutants should be considered as an object of accumulated environmental damage.

The formation and development of agglomeration zones in the Volga-Ural macroregion should contribute to the preservation and development of the demographic resource. Economic and social changes during the development of the agglomeration are likely to help the formation of the migration attractiveness of the territory.