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The necessity of a comprehensive description of greenhouse gas fluxes on different types of soils, the methodology for creating “carbon polygons” and “carbon farms” with the use of modern methods for assessing carbon fluxes in ecosystems, taking into account the specifics of the natural conditions of Russia and competitive advantages, are substantiated. Directions for developing national methods for calculating carbon fluxes are given, which should be subjected to verification by the interested parties of the Paris Agreement adopted by the Russian Federation. Such issues are considered as the role and potential of the Russian soil cover in the carbon balance of the planet, factors of reducing carbon stocks from the upper 1 meter depth layer of the soil, competitive edge in the EU and the Western world in the questions of natural and climatic changes, the use of remote sensing of the Earth from space in order to obtain regular, complete and reliable estimates of the absorption of greenhouse gases.

The article presents a scientific literature review in the field of modern methods of monitoring wind erosion of soils such as: visual indicators of erosion, erosion bridge, close-range photogrammetry, cesium-137 and remote sensing cover. The brief description of each method, advantages and disadvantages, conditions and limitations of their applicability are given. When choosing the method, it is necessary to take into account the monitoring conditions, the area of the territory under consideration and the scale of research, time frames, financial and labor resources. It has been established that the most relevant, economically justified and promising, especially on large territories, are the remote sensing methods, which allow monitoring on different scales, and not only estimating the erosion activity, but also predicting it, thus providing the parties concerned with the necessary information for making right, prompt and timely economic decisions, aimed both at combating wind erosion and elimination of its consequences, and for organizing preventive measures as well. To improve the effectiveness of these methods it is also necessary to create databases, expand and accumulate soil information that can help verify, refine, process and calibrate the satellite data obtained. In order to understand aeolian processes and dust particle transport mechanisms one should create integrated methods that include remote sensing data, meteorological data, on the basis of which the improved models and maps would be developed, and erosion processes would be predicted. The scientific literature is mostly devoted to the interpretation of wind erosion in arid and semi-arid zones. The possibility of satellite monitoring of soil erosion in arable fields remains poorly studied. There are also practically no research results available on the transport of chemicals with micro-particles due to wind erosion. Both in Russia and abroad the attempts are made in soil erosion modelling, but the quality of the models is very limited by the lack of field data required for their calibration and verification. Eroded soils in the country are still identified using ground-based methods. However, field studies can only be conducted in a very limited area, in a few key points, and as a matter of fact it is quite complicated to conduct field studies on actively used agricultural lands.

The aim of the research was to analyze the relationship of color indicators of soil layers with the parameters obtained by ground-penetrating radar (GPR) profiling. Such parameters were the data of the spectral Fourier transform of the amplitude of the reflected pulse in the subsurface horizons of the soils of the Kamennaya Steppe area. GPR profiling was carried out by a Loza-V geophysical device. The diffraction points of reflected pulse amplitude corresponding to local soil horizons and groundwater surface were determined. The variability in the thickness of horizons and layers was calculated through the modules of amplitude maxima taking into account the conductivity of the horizon (dielectric permittivity and the rate of signal passage in a given medium). The procedure of verification of differentiation of sounding points was based on their comparison with real soil profiles and patterns. Statistical processing included the calculation of mean values, standard deviations, and frequencies of signal amplitude distribution; the use of the principal component method; and cluster analysis. Two polynomial models of connection of changes in parameters of the spectral Fourier transform of electromagnetic pulses in subsurface medium of chernozems with attributive parameters of formation of spectral pure colors of dominant wavelength (λi) were constructed. The indicative parameters included the conditional coefficient of pure color (Kλi), which corresponds to the addition functions in the tri-color colorimetric system MKO XYZ 1931, and its saturation, which is completely determined by the properties of the reflection coefficient (R) in the spectral range of λ 580–720 nm (red band). The calculated parameters of soil chromaticity obtained on the basis of these models were the prerogative for constructing the RGB model of soil layers and its visualization in graphic editors.

Delineation of especially valuable agricultural lands (EVAL) is currently an important task, which will make it possible to preserve agricultural land for its direct use. There are currently no uniform approaches for delineation of EVAL, or they need to be upgraded. We have proposed a new approach based on GIS modeling and simulation of agricultural plant growth. It is proposed to delineate EVAL for each municipal district taking into account its existing specialization in agricultural production. The allocation of EVAL should be based on the assessment of potential productivity of soils and lands for cultivation of the main crops in the district. EVAL should also include pilot fields and areas used for scientific and educational purposes, regardless of potential soil productivity. The proposed approach has been successfully tested on the example of Yasnogorsk district of Tula region. It is shown that the EVAL map, based on the proposed approach, is more related to the actual land productivity and does not depend on the current land use within the area. It is possible to build an EVAL map for the whole country only by building such maps separately for all municipal districts of Russia.

The reaction of two pear varieties (Kieffer with reduced winter hardiness and Leven with increased winter hardiness) on the changing climatic conditions of winter-spring period from 1986 to 2018 on the territory of Krasnodar region was studied. The critical minimum temperature is detrimental to flower buds of the studied varieties in different phases of the winter-spring period. Thermal stress manifestation in time and space is calculated. Digital maps of dynamic changes in the periodicity of the temperature conditions in the winter-spring period for the analyzed pear varieties are compiled. A digital computer analysis of the evaluation of frost hazard territories of Krasnodar region for pears in changing climate conditions was carried out. The proposed scientific approach suggests the need for a transition from registering the impact on the productivity of fruit crops and their varieties of individual environmental factors to evaluate their relationship and interdependence over specific phases of development. It will allow more efficient use the natural potentials of crops, varieties and growing environments without additional capital investments.

The main trends in the development of soil mapping methods are discussed, and the major problems are identified. By the present time, the transition from the paper-based soil maps to digital soil-geographical databases has already been completed. The digital mapping of soils and their properties is now accepted as the main method at all the levels of generalization. The approaches of digital soil mapping, as well as of the traditional one, are based on the ideas of V.V. Dokuchaev about the dependence of soils on soil-forming factors. However, in digital soil mapping, new achievements of mathematical statistics and mathematical modeling are being widely applied. This provides for a greater objectivity and reproducibility of the digital soil maps in comparison with the traditional soil maps. At the same time, all unsolved problems of soil cartography related to the lack of field observation data, scale, soil taxonomy, spatial microheterogeneity, and mapping of individual soil properties are preserved. Partially, these problems can be solved by using remote sensing data. When the soil geographical information is used to assess the quality of soil resources, the interpretation of remote sensing data for mapping purposes seems to be more preferable in comparison with the methods of digital soil mapping.

The results of analysis of long-term changes in the risk of apricot damage in spring frosts in the Krasnodar region are presented. The phenomenon of changing the ranks of the probability of the manifestation of low-temperature minima in two long-term periods (19852000 and 2001-2017) is revealed. It is shown that the change of ranks from the first to the second period occurs for varieties Krasnoshcheky and Gerdel 1-22 practically the same throughout the research area, which indicates a very weak contribution of ecological differences between geographic points in the phenomenon of genotype-environment interaction. The variety of New Jersey is almost consistently ranked third (the most unstable) in all regions except for Ust-Labinsk in the period 1985-2000. It is shown that apricot varieties differ in frost-resistance homeostasis. Variety Krasnoshcheky in period 1 and period 2 has differences in the probability of manifestation of low-temperature minima 29.7 and 35.3; variety Zherdel 1-22 25.2 and 29.5; and the grade of New Jersey is 25.0 and 41.1. The most homeostatic frost resistance in the Gerdel variety is 1-22.

During the model experiment we exposed samples from surface layer of leached chernozem, grey forest and soddy-podzolic soils to study the impact of raindrop action on their surface. According to our results, surface of leached chernozem and grey forest soil transformed similarly forming the crust separated by the cracks. The crust consisted of light (washed silt fraction) and dark (compacted fine material) areas. As for the soddy-podzilic soil, we observed surface accumulation of sand and washed mineral grains. Surface image classification showed that cracks generally tended to increase in area during the surface drying. However, leached chernozem cracked quicker and heavier compared to grey forest soil. In addition, the proportion between light and dark areas of the crust for these two types of soil changed differently as well. In conditions of different transformation cycles divided by heavy rainfalls, the changes of cracks position and the increase of light crust area was observed, while dark area moved to the cracks. Such spatial rearrangement resulted in the increase of average reflectance in RGB channels. The inequality between reflectance in different channels increased as well. During the experiment significant surface lightening occurred. It mainly affected the light area of crust and led to significant rise in reflectance in red channel.

The paper presents the results of the of the country's plowed area assessment on the basis of the Unified State Register of Soil Resources of Russia, a digital land cover map created on the basis of MODIS satellite data, and study of plowed land areas according to the data of the Internet service Google Earth. Information on the plowing of soils is tied to the soil-geographical units. The map shows the actually plowed soils and soils under the layland. Independent verification of the plowland soil digital map of Russia showed its high enough accuracy (an error of about 8–9%). The share of all plowed soils of the Unified State Register of Soil Resources in Russia has been determined. It is found that chernozem soils predominate on the arable land of Russia, from the northernmost subtypes to the most southern ones. Somewhat unexpected is the presence in this list of meadow chernozem solonetzic and solonchak soils. The map is intended for applied analysis and accounting of soil resources at the national level.

This work aimed to search for indicators of the thickness of the humus horizon of chernozem soils based on the data of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveying. The investigation was carried out on a test site located in Russia’s Tula oblast. The area is dominated by arable podzolized chernozems, including ones eroded to a varying extent. In parallel with GPR profiling in the field, soil was drilled to determine the lower boundary of the humus horizon. Based on the conjugate analysis of GPR profiling data and the field determination of the thickness of the humus horizon, a new indicator was proposed: the coefficient of asymmetry of the modal value of the peak of the spectral density of the first-period reflected GPR pulse obtained at a frequency of 100 MHz. The proposed indicator demonstrates a good statistical relationship with the thickness of the humus horizon of chernozem soils. For the test region, a regression model of this relationship was constructed with a determination coefficient of approximately 0.82. To calculate the thickness of the humus horizon (A+AB), it is suggested to use the lower boundary of the second period of the spectral density of the reflected signal, which correlates well with the actual data. The developed approach can be used to map the thickness of the humus horizon in the chernozem soils of the research region. Theoretically, this approach can be extended to soils of other regions.

Possibilities of using data obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles for detection and mapping of rill erosion on arable lands are analyzed. Identification and mapping of rill erosion was performed on a key plot with a predominance of arable gray forest soils (Greyzemic Phaeozems) under winter wheat in Tula oblast. This plot was surveyed from different heights and in different periods to determine the reliability of identification of rill erosion on the basis of automated procedures in a GIS. It was found that, despite changes in the pattern of rills during the warm season, only one survey during this season is sufficient for adequate assessment of the area of eroded soils. According to our data, the most reliable identification of rill erosion is based on the aerial survey from the height of 50 m above the soil surface. When the height of the flight is more than 200 m, erosional rills virtually escape identification. The efficiency of identification depends on the type of crops, their status, and time of the survey. The surveys of bare soil surface in periods with maximum possible interval from the previous rain or snowmelt season are most efficient. The results of our study can be used in the systems of remote sensing monitoring of erosional processes on arable fields. Application of multiand hyperspectral cameras can improve the efficiency of monitoring.

This study estimates carbon balance in a mixed mature forest on sod-podzolic sandy-loamy soil (Albeluvisols sandy, the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve) and in a secondary deciduous forest at the Experimental Field Station of the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences (gray forest loamy soil, Luvisols loamy). CO2 emissions from soils have been continuously measured every week since 1998. Net primary production was estimated in 2000–2014 by remote sensing using the normalized difference vegetation index. Long-term weather monitoring has revealed a distinctive trend toward increasing aridity of climate in the southern part of Moscow region in the observation period (1998–2014). Based on long-term ground-based and satellite monitoring data, this study shows that in the growing season, mixed and deciduous forests of the southern part of Moscow region are the sink of carbon with a mean flux of 41–112 g C m–2, depending on the contribution of root respiration. Taking into account the CO2 emissions from soils during the cold season, the forests are very likely to function as sources of atmospheric carbon at an amount of 30–100 g C m–2 yr–1, sometimes reaching very significant values of C flux (170–300 g C m–2 yr–1). In mature forest ecosystems, a significant influence on the quantitative estimate of the C balance is hampered by the CO2 emission activity from coarse woody debris, which can reach up to 14% of the total losses of C during the decomposition of soil organic matter in the mixed forest, which turns it into a persistent source of CO2 to the atmosphere. It is shown that the sink function of the forest ecosystems was more pronounced in dry years, whereas the excessive wetness diminishes their sink potential, turning the forests into sources of carbon dioxide.

The potential of crop yields illustrates the possibilities of increasing their production in the future. Modeling of potential yield of winter wheat on the European part of Russia was conducted based on specially developed GIS and the WOFOST crop growth simulation model. It was found that the winter wheat yield for Russia in general can be increased by 70% in the modern climatic conditions. The maximal potential for yield increasing was found in the regions situated on the Northern edge of the crop cultivation. In the Northern Caucasus, real crop yield is close to the climatic maximum; however, due to large crop acreage in Krasnodar krai, Stavropol krai, and Rostov and Volgograd oblasts, wheat harvest in each region can still be increased by 1–3 mln tons in each of them.

Geoinformational analysis shows that the fraction of lands that are optimal for farming of the main crops in Russia is about 10% of the available land at best (for summer wheat, buckwheat). For the majority of other crop cultures, this value is a few percent at most. The available resources are used very incompletely. The index of completeness of land resource potential use is no more than 10% for the majority of crops. Only in the case of soy are the available resources almost completely involved, whereas available land resources of winter wheat, grain maize, and sunflowers are used at 20–30%.

The temporal dynamics (1980-1989-1997-2002-2007-2012-2015) of the physical and chemical properties of the mountain chernozems, the most widely spread soils of the northern slope of Djinal ridge, were studied. The investigations were conducted on the lands of “Kabardino-Balkaria Research Institute of Agriculture”. We revealed that according to the state of these soils in a year 2015 the soils were affected by two types of degradation processes, which differ according to the development degree and the spatial cover of the territory. The whole territory is characterized by the processes of the strong dehumification, and the processes of medium degree of dehumification are manifested only within local areas. The consequences of the strong dehumification of the investigated soils are manifested in the significant (the coefficient is 0.70) decrease of their fertility level. The damage for the soils affected by the strong dehumification reaches 18% according to the assessment of the lands value. The most of the studied soils were also affected by the agro-exhausting in a weak or medium degree. The fertility level index for weakly diluted soils of the agricultural areas is considered to be equal to 0.90. The damage for the assessment of the land area for these soils contain 5%. The decrease of the fertility for weakly diluted soils is insignificant (the coefficient of the fertility level is 0.95), and the damage for the purposes of the land area assessment may be neglected. We calculated the total damage (30009 rubles per ha) due to the degradation processes which affected the value of the land area. We also calculated the cost of rehabilitation of these soils and their recovery to the level of the initial state.

An approach towards an automated updating of medium-scale soil maps via imitation of traditional mapping technologies is suggested. It is based on formulation of the rules of mapping in the form of classification trees for separating different soil cover patterns and on creation of the maps of soil-forming factors with the use of satellite data. Algorithms for mapping alluvial soils (Fluvisols), eroded (abraded), and anthropogenically transformed soils are presented. This approach was tested for the southern (Trans-Oka) part of Moscow oblast. The model for an automated soil mapping was realized using ILWIS software. The polygons of alluvial soils were mapped with a higher accuracy via the automated separation of floodplains according to the digital terrain model. The total area of alluvial soils shown on the medium-scale soil map decreased from 373 to 340 km2. Calculations of slope angles according to digital terrain models allowed us to localize soil cover patterns with participation of eroded soils with a higher accuracy; their area decreased insignificantly: from 791 to 781 km2. Anthropogenically transformed soils of building areas were mapped for the territory of Moscow oblast on the basis of satellite data for the first time. Their areas were delineated taking into account land use types and comprised 551 km2, i.e., 15.4% of the total area (3570 km2) of the Trans-Oka part of Moscow oblast.

Heavy metals concentration is considered one of the factors directly affecting soil and crop quality and, thus, human health. The objective of the current work was to critically examine the suitability of Vis- NIR (350–2500 nm) measurements for calibration procedures and methods to predict contaminated soil. 25 different sites were selected adjacent to drain Bahr El-Baqar east of Nile Delta. Spectroradiometer ASD was used to measure the spectral reflectance profile of each soil site. The concentrations of three heavy metals (Cr, Mn and Cu) were determined in the studied samples. Stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) was used to construct calibration models subjected to the independent validation. The obtained regression models were of good quality (R2 = 0.82, 0.75, and 0.65 for Cr, Mn, and Cu, respectively). Thus, Visible and Nearinfrared (Vis-NIR) reflection spectroscopy is cost- and time-effective procedure that can be used as an alternative to the traditional methods of determination of heavy metals in soils.

A geoinformation database for assessing soil resource potential for horticulture in Krasnodar region and Adygea has been developed. The results of geoinformation analysis indicate that only 55–60% of soils in these regions are suitable for growing horticultural crops without limitations; about 35–40% of the total soil area is unsuitable for horticultural purposes. For plum trees, the area of unsuitable soils is somewhat lower than for other horticultural crops. Geographically, the areas of soils suitable and unsuitable for horticulture are close to one another. The thickness of the loose earthy soil material, the gravel content, the degree of salinization, the soil texture, and the degree of soil hydromorphism are the major soil properties imposing considerable limitations for the development of fruit-growing industry in the studied regions. The highest portions of soils suitable for horticulture are found in Eiskii, Kushchevskii, Krylovskii, Shcherbinovskii, and Novokubanskii districts of Krasnodar region. The development of horticulture in Tuapsinskii, Slavyanskii, and Primorsko-Akhtarskii districts is limited because of the unsuitability of soils for this purpose. About 8% of the existing orchards are found on soils recognized as unsuitable for horticulture, and only about 20% of the existing orchards are found on soils suitable for fruit growing without limitations. About 70% of the existing fruit orchards are located on degraded soils or on soils with certain limitations for horticulture. The profitability of fruit orchards on such soils is lower than that of the orchards planted on soils without limitations for horticulture. This information is necessary for the adequate economic evaluation of the degree of soil degradation.

The principles of typological soil-genetic zoning based on the substantive-genetic classification of Russian soils (2004) and realized for the State Soil Map of Russia on a scale of 1 : 1 M are considered. Three categories of characteristics are applied to the system of zoning units: taxonomic, process-based, and landscape- indicative characteristics. The relationship between them changes in dependence on the taxonomic level of the zoning unit; at the lower level, the spatial (landscape-indicative) criterion plays the major role. This criterion is also important in the delimitation of soil groups (soil communities) serving as the central taxonomic unit of the zoning. At this level, all the three groups of characteristics are equally important. The definitions of the taxonomic units of the soil-genetic zoning are given, and their characteristic features are described. An algorithm of the zoning procedure is illustrated by the example of the maps developed for the Privolzhskii federal okrug. It is suggested that the soil-genetic zoning can be used as one of the ways to update the State Soil Map.

The soil cover of the Arctic zone of Russia is ∼330 million hectares. Permafrost restricts the thickness of the active layer but does not prevent the formation of significant diversity of soils and soil complexes, including Al–Fe humic and peat soils, gleysols, and others. The available data on soil resources are sufficient for organization and participation of Russia in scientific–practical international programs. At the same time, specific soil related targets and project tasks may require additional study of soils of the Arctic region.

This paper discusses the effectiveness of using a number of methods of preprocessing spectrometric data in the 325–1075-nm wavelength range in order to predict the concentration of organic soil carbon. Methods of preprocessing spectral data (moving-average filtering, Savitzky–Golay smoothing, calculating the first and second derivatives, and scaling) were consecutively applied to the spectral data of soils (with their natural texture and pulverized) to increase the reliability and effectiveness of the models. According to the criterion of maximizing the determination coefficient and minimizing the rms error as a cross check, the best method of predicting organic soil carbon turned out to be partial-least-squares regression with computation of the first derivatives of the original spectra (Rcv2=0.758RMSEcv=0.492).