засуха

In this article, on the basis of daily meteorological material over the thirty years period the drought criteria are according to Selyaninov, Shashko, and Kabanov’s works. The most productive indicators are selected; best rate the degree of the aridity over the particular period. The criteria are considered in the drought insurance and subsidy payments to agricultural producers in the lean years on the regional and state level. The analyzed coefficients do not fully show the rate of drought, i.e.

Repeatability and dynamics of probability of various type of droughts, and also estimation of their intensity on hydrothermal factor for the 120-year-old period (1891–2010гг is shown.). The agrometeorological characteristic of the most severe droughts is given. Decrease in productivity of grain crops and total gathering of grain in the Saratov area in years with various types of droughts is resulted

The classification of spring-summer droughts into the categories of «weak», «moderate», «strong», «ecological catastrophe» derived from regional meteorological characteristics and the sensitivity scale of Scots pine to drought is discussed. It is proposed to evaluate the drought as an autonomous natural phenomenon, within a certain territory and its (dry) vegetative season.

The article is dedicatedtothe 135th anniversary of Rudolf Eduardovich David, an outstanding Russian scientist, academician ofthe Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who was at the origins of the organization and development of meteorology and agrometeorology in the Lower Volga region. The main stages of the biography and some little-known aspects of the professional activity of R. E. David are discussed. The biographical study used archival materials and memoirs of employees of Saratov State University.