Strong atmosphere-hydrology-biosphere feedbacks including human activity affect the rate and sign of changes in the Earth's system and have impacts on socioeconomic relationships. These processes are related to atmospheric circulation, climate and land use changes. Satellite-based and in situ monitoring systems have greatly increased our understanding of variations and changes occurring in the regional climate, atmospheric regime, land cover and water circulation. Coupled numerical models are invoked to describe features, which cannot be caught by observation systems or to predict a future state.

This book summarizes the state-of-the-art researches on land cover, atmosphere and water resources of the Eastern Europe region, sets up priorities of major researches in these fields, outlines deficiencies in data and their processing, and develops recommendations for further research directions. Selected papers of the Non-Boreal Eastern Europe NEESPI meeting cover five topics:

• Observational issues in the non-boreal Eastern Europe

• Regional climate changes

• Air pollution aspects

• Land cover and land use changes

• Changes in the Black Sea and its coastal zone.

  Inhalt

  The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative: An Introduction; P. Ya. Groisman and G. Gutman.- Observation Issues in the Non-boreal Eastern Eu- rope. The NASA NEESPI Data Portal to Support Studies of Climate and Environmental Changes in Non-boreal Europe; S. Shen et al.- Baseline Climatological Data Sets for Eastern Europe Area; V. N. Razuvaev and O.N. Bulygina.- Precipitation Statistics in Ukraine: Sensitivity to Informational Sources; S. Ivanov et al.- Regional Climate Changes in the Non-boreal Eastern Europe. Ecological Challenges of Climate Change in Europe' s Continental, Drought-threatened Southeast; C. Mátyás.- Climate in the Late 20th and 21st Centuries over the Northern Eurasia: RCM and CMIP3 Simulations; I. M. Shkolnik .- Projections of Climate Change over Non-boreal East Europe during First Half of XXI Century According to Results of a Transient RCM Experiment; S. 0. Krichak et al.- An Assessment of the Recent Past and Future Climate Change, Glacier Retreat, and Runoff in the Caucasus Region Using Dynamical and Statistical Downscaling and HBV-ETH Hydrological Model; M.Shahgedanova et al.- Regional Climate and Environmental Change: Moldova Case Study; R. Corobov.- Aspects of Regional Climate Modelling with Focus on Precipitation; S. Bachner and C. Simmer.- Long - term Forecasting of Natural Disasters under Projected Climate Changes in Ukraine; Y.V. Kostyuchenko and Y. Bilous.- Air Pollution in Eastern Europe.Air Pollution in Eastern Europe; E. Genikhovich et al.- Land cover and Land Use Changes in the Non-boreal Eastern Europe. The NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Program's Support of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI): Focus on Non-boreal Europe; G. Gutman.- Non-boreal Forests of Eastern Europe in a Changing World: The Role in the Earth System; A. Shvidenko.- Global Land Project: Major Scientific Questions for Coupled Modeling of Land Systems; R. Aspinall.- Assessment of Ukrainian ForestsVulnerability to Climate Change; I. F. Buksha.- Evaluating Vegetation Cover Change Contribution into Greenhouse Effect by Remotely Sensed Data: Case Study for Ukraine; V. I. Lyalko et al.- Soil Moisture Changes in Non-boreal European Russia: In Situ Data; N. A.Speranskaya.- The Effects of Land Use Change on Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics in the Black Sea Region; P. Olofsso et al.- Recent Trends in Land Surface Phenologies within the Don and Dnieper River Basins from the Perspective of MODIS Collection 4 Products; V. Kovalskyy and G. Henebry.- Soil Erosion Induced Degradation of Agrolandscapes in Ukraine: Modeling, Computation and Prediction in Conditions of the Climate Changes; A. A. Svetlitchnyi.- Land Distribution and Assessment in the Ukrainian Steppe within the Dnepropetrovsk Region; L. B. Anisimova et al.- Development of Mathematical Approaches to the Ecological Differentiation of Arable Land in the Dnipropetrovsk area of Ukraine; M. M. Kharytonov et al.- Causes of Cropland Abandonment during the Post-socialist Transition in Southern Romania; D. Müller and T. Kuemmerle.- Changes in the Black Sea and its Coastal Zone. Black Sea Forecasting System: Current State and Prospect; G. K. Korotaev.- Comprehensive Assessment of Negative Factors Affecting the Black Sea Shallow Water in the Danube Area; N. Berlinskv.- Changes of Thermohalinity Characteristics in the North-West Black Sea Shelf During the last 50 years; Y. Popov et al.- Specificity of Romanian Black Sea Coast Changes under Climate and Human Impact; L. Alexandrov et al.- Index