A GIS project for the potential capacity of soil self-purification from oil and oil products within the Republic of Belarus has been developed. The structural system related to geo-information is divided into three units: the first unit is a database of soil, landscape, climate and hydrological maps which are summarized in the attribute table to the soil map and two units of cartographic materials, including maps of degradation, accumulation, transfer of hydrocarbons and potential soil self-purification capacity from oil products. All maps are based on a digitized soil map of 1:500 000 scale. With due regard to the main natural factors affecting the physico-chemical, biological decomposition of hydrocarbons, their transfer outside the soil section, a territorial assessment of the potential capacity of soil self-purification is given. This report contains an analysis of the material on the assessment of the relative capacity of the soils of the republic to the degradation of hydrocarbons (HC). In accordance with the intensity of the biological and physical and chemical decomposition of hydrocarbons the territorial division of the soil cover was carried out. Maps of the block of hydrocarbon degradation have been developed. They are two analytical maps: 1) soil classification by their ability to physical and chemical decomposition of hydrocarbons, 2) soil classification by the biological activity of HC decomposition and one integral map of soil relative ability to decompose HC. It was established that the main factor for assessing the relative ability of soils of the Belarus to degrade hydrocarbons is the biological activity of its decomposition, which was estimated by the amount of precipitation during the warm season and the duration of the frostless period.

The article analyzes the results of studies of the content of various forms of nitrogen in soils. Their significant variability due to external and internal factors of the soil system has been experimentally confirmed: the season of the year, the moistening regime, the granulometric composition, the humus content, etc. The approach has been shown to be inadequate, in which only one of the existing forms of nitrogen in the soil is determined. The practice of control in the field of environmental protection in terms of detecting violations of the norms of nitrogen ammonium in soils in industrial enterprises and the involvement of nature users in administrative responsibility are given. The directions of optimization of the normalization of the content of nitrogen forms are proposed. The problems of terminology are described with reference to the use of the concepts «soil» and «land». It is recommended that they be separated and more strictly regulated.

The article presents the results of using GIS technologies to identify the geography of the location of the major types of water tourism and recreation for 303 sections of 125 rivers of Belarus. As a result, within the studied rivers 5 zones were distinguished, differing in the share of favorable sites for various types of tourist and recreational use (with a maximum percentage of sites (100–80%), with a significant share (80–60%), with a limited percentage (60–40%), with an insufficient share (40–20%), with a minimum percentage (20–0%)). The analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of zones with different shares of river sections made it possible to establish that the territorial localization of like zones for different types of water tourism and recreation is not identical.

According to the common data significant number of water objects is at the territory of the Republic of Belarus: about 20 000 rivers, more than 10 000 of lakes, about 150 water reservoirs and more than 150 000 km of canals. Basic information on hydrological studies of water objects at the territory of Belarus belong to the period 1950-1970. The process of their updating and clarification is ongoing and continues until the present time. However, the actual encyclopedic, reference hydrographic dataof the Republic of Belarus are not able to provide the complete structured list and thematic information for each category of surface water objects in boundaries of river basins and administrative regions. RUE “CRICUWR” conducts the inventory of water objects of the Republic of Belarus resulting the database which contains relevant cartographic and thematic information and serves as tool for water objects account in the country and provides the all stakeholders with actual number of water objects, their verified location as well as state and economic use within the administrative regions.

The ratio of males and females in the populations of narrow-clawed crayfish is close to 1: 1. The difference in the sex ratio refects the difference in the ecological and physiological state of males or females in a particular period of capture. The distribution of average daily catches in the studied water bodies of Belarus is different from normal. Ponds with the average daily catch of less than one individual per trap are more common. The differences in the average size of males are statistically significant for the majority of compared populations. Females are characterized by greater stability and smaller variability of size parameters depending on the specific habitat conditions and, more often, statistical differences between the individual females of compared populations cannot be found. However, this stability is relative, since even the average size of females from the same lake (Sominskoye) can statistically significantly differ in different years. There is no statistically reliable dependence of the average size of individuals of the fished part of the population on the intensity of fishing, but the proportion of the fished part of the population (individuals ≥ 10.5 cm) statistically significantly depends on the fishing load, but the significance level of this dependence remains low overall: males – 0,09 and females – 0,06.

The data on food spectra of the mature individuals of alien fish species Neogobius fluviatilis (Pallas, 1814) caught in the watercourses of the Dnieper River basin in Belarus in the summer period are given. The variety of the food spectrum, frequency of occurrence and relative abundance of prey in the diet are analyzed. Food spectra of the monkey goby individuals from the Dnieper River and its two tributaries (the Pripyat’ River and the Berezina River) were compared. A total 58 prey types were detected. The dominance of the Chironomidae larvae in monkey goby diet from the basin of the Dnieper River was shown. Trichoptera larvae, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Daphniiformes and Gammaridae were also well represented in diet. The decrease of Chironomidae role and increase in value of the other groups of organisms in monkey goby diet in the Berezina and the Pripyat’ rivers in comparison with the Dnieper River were shown: mollusks (Gastropoda and Bivalvia) value increases in the Pripyat’ River, insects larvae (Trichoptera and Coleoptera) and mollusks (Bivalvia) – in the Berezina River. Average values of stomach fullness and fatness coefficients are calculated: the lowest values were shown for individuals from the Berezina River, that can be associated with decrease in Chironomidae role and low mollusks value in their diet.

Springs (krinitsy, istochniky, keys) along with lakes, the rivers and swamps provide biological diversity of water ecosystems and richness of a plant and animal life. The spring is not the biggest ecological system among other types of the surface water. Division of springs on limnokrene (over an exit of one or several sources the small reservoir with an open water mirror with the following stream), reokrene (a visible source with the following stream) and gelokrene (a set of diffusively located exits with education cryopole marsh type with the following stream is formed) is standard. Sources are important in a delivery of reservoirs and water currents, maintaining of water balance and maintaining stability of the biocenoses surrounding them. Springs are inhabited by fauna which part natives of cold reservoirs of the North of Eurasia and mountainous areas of Central and Southern Europe and also evribiontny organisms are. The taxonomic structure of aquatic invertebrates of 9 springs in the Brest district has been established. 57 species of representatives of 4 types of aquatic invertebrates were identified: Mollusca – 12; Platyhelminthes – 1; Annelida – 3 and Arthropoda – 41 species and forms. Relatively high species abundance of larvae from the order Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera was noted. The richest fauna of aquatic invertebrates was represented in the source in the vicinity of the village Selets (Berezovsky region), and the largest number in a spring in the vicinity of the village Verkhi (Kamenetsky region). Among the identified aquatic invertebrates, the following species should be noted: Synurella ambulans (F. Müller, 1846) and a rare for Belarus beetles Agabus guttatus (Paykull, 1798).

The article discusses the cyclical nature of dendrochronological series, methods for the periods detection. The calculated periods in the annual radial increment of conifers species on the territory of the Belarusian Lakeland are presented. The main methods of modeling and forecasting of radial increment are considered. The radial increment models of Scots pine from elevated relief elements are presented. The modelsare based on moving average methods, exponential smoothing, autocorrelation, and harmonic analysis. The forecast has been verified.

Spatial-temporal particularity of the Earth’s temperature change over period from 1850 to 2017 are considered. Special attention was paid to external and internal reasons of trends, jumps and hiatuses in temperature interannual variability, such as man-made greenhouse gases, water vapor, clouds, natural and man-made aerosols. We have elucidated why the climate warming in the second half of the last century occurred mainly in winter months, while nowadays it has been replaced by summer type warming. These and other spatial-temporal particularity of global climate change cannot be explained by greenhouse global warming theory.

The article describes the automated system for the assimilation of surface meteorological and aerological observational data into the mesoscale numerical model WRF (WRF-ARW), as well as preliminary verifications of the forecast results. This system was developed in the Belgidromet of the Republic of Belarus within the research work “Development of basic elements of the technology of mesoscale forecasting of weather elements on the territory of the Republic of Belarus on the basis of data assimilation in the numerical model of WRF”. The system is aimed at clarifying the fields of objective analysis and forecast, by attracting additional meteorological observations. As a result, the system made it possible to correct the fields and refine the forecasts of the mesoscale numerical model WRF for the initial period of 00 UTC, as well as improve the accuracy of the forecast of the main meteorological values (pressure, temperature and precipitation) in the early simulation periods.

In the present study we analyzed the main methods and tools used for identify and predict dangerous convective events such as thunder, rain, hail and so on. The specialty of these event consists of the rapid evolution in time and space. Therefore the timely detection and prediction of these events are still important task. The article gives a brief description of the spatial and temporal distributions of convective phenomena in Belarus. Some complex systems and methods using in the world practice to predict hazardous phenomena were analyzed. The method of complex diagnosis and forecasting of severe convective structures was observed. The method is based on using of numerical model data with high spatial resolution and remote sensing data. The study period covered the time interval summer period of 2018. For verification radar and weather station data were used. The results showed that the method has more accuracy for severe convective structures, such as the mesoscale convective complexes and another mesoscale convective systems. Sometimes, in zones of active cyclones, along fronts, presumably in areas of large-scale removal of water vapor to the upper layers of the troposphere, there may be cases of false detection of areas of powerful convection. In this regard, to mask these false zones, an additional parameter was introduced into the methodology – the lifted index (one of convective instability index).

The article discusses specific features and principles for the regulation of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the framework of the Gothenburg Protocol to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, EU and US legislation,and the air protection legislation in force in the Republic of Belarus are considered. It is shown that the Gothenburg Protocol, like the legislation of the EU and the US, contains a number of provisions in the field of VOC emission control, which until recently were not typical for the system of atmospheric air protection in Belarus. These include: rationing not only in-stack emissions, but also emission from diffuse sources, as well as total emissions; establishment of emission standards, both for individual compounds and for the amount of VOCs; the possibility of setting various standards – in terms of VOC content in the off-gases (mg/m³), in the VOC consumption per unit of the surface to be painted (g/m²), and a number of others. The entry into force in October 2017 of Econip 17.01.06-001-2017 is the beginning of the restructuring of the system for the regulation of emissions, but considerable efforts will be required to complete it. Priority measures to further improve the VOS emission standardization include the harmonization of existing legislation, the introduction into practice of the Solvent Management Plans, the analysis of the possibilities for use in the emission regulation of the emission reduction schemes. It will require publication of a form of explanation to the established norms and rules: this practice has been used for many years in the countries of the EU, North America, East Asia. It is shown that the use of principles and approaches to the regulation of VOC emissions laid down in the Gothenburg Protocol, taking into account the experience of the EU countries and the U.S.A, will increase the efficiency of the VOC emission control system, and reduce the costs of establishing of emission limits.

Specific features of the genesis of peat resources along the territory of the Republic of Belarus and the directions of their consumption in different periods of the state development are given. On the basis of the analysis of the current state of the peat industry in the republic, new approaches to the development of this natural resource in the present and near future based on complex technologies for their deep processing are substantiated. With this in mind, data are presented on the current distribution of available peat resources in the traditional and new directions of their development. Based on the statistical analysis, estimateswere obtained of the sufficiency of reserves and the suitability of available raw materials for the implementation of the tasks assigned to the peat industry for the near future.