Cyclicity of Climate in the Sea of Azov Region: The Holocene and the Current Period (19th to 21st Centuries).

This work reports on the cyclicity of the climate in the Sea of Azov Region studied on the basis of paleogeographic methods. The results of drilling on Dolgaya Spit of the Sea of Azov are presented. The diatoms and palynological analyses, as well as the soil column dating, indicate the cyclical pattern of climatic variability and accelerated silting of the Don delta under regulated runoff. The rate of sedimentation in the Sea of Azov during the Ancient Azov and New Azov stages varied from 0.2 to 2.0 mm/year. In the current period, under conditions of water scarcity and lack of floods, the sedimentation rate of clayey silts was 10–30 mm/year at the avandelta. Based on the analysis of hydrometeorological information, the period of time from 1884 to 2020 can be divided into three periods: I, cold; II, transitional; and III, warm. The study of the indicated specific features of the development of natural processes gives grounds to expect the next transitional period with dramatical interannual fluctuations of temperatures and alternation of warm and severe winters in the coming decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]