Sergiy Stepanenko, Rector of Odessa State Environmental University, prior - Director of the Odessa Hydrometeorological Institute. Employed at various academic and administrative positions since 1983, including Head of the Department of Atmospheric Physics and Climate Theory. Professor, Ph.D. (Meteorology), Doctor of Science (Geophysics).Extensive experience in the development of programmes for training in the field of Meteorology and Climatology, organization of higher and postgraduate education in the field of Meteorology, Climatology, Hydrology and Oceanology. Head of the project group for development of MSc programme in Climatology.President of the Ukrainian Joint Meteorological and Hydrological Society, since 2017.
The paper provides a chronological description of the aftermath and the effect of blowing up the ... more The paper provides a chronological description of the aftermath and the effect of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam by Russian occupation forces of 6 June 2023 on the seawater quality in the coastal zone of Odesa agglomeration, according to the results of operational environmental monitoring in the early weeks upon the man-made disaster. Such a description is indispensable for assessing the scope of pollution of marine water areas and calculation of the damage inflicted on the marine ecosystem and its natural resources, adjustment and verification of mathematical models which will further be used to prognosticate the consequences of the dam destruction for the marine ecosystem. According to the data published in open sources, development of the environmental, sanitary and microbiological situation in the coastal zone of the city of Odesa over June 2023 is described, the dynamics of some indices of the sea water quality are shown, and the pollutants the concentrat...
The article analyzes the changes that took place in the higher school of Ukraine over the past 25... more The article analyzes the changes that took place in the higher school of Ukraine over the past 25 years in terms of their impact on the system of training specialists with higher education in hydrometeorological specialties. Three stages of the higher education reforms and their impact on the training of personnel for the hydrometeorological service of Ukraine are singled out. The priority measures are proposed, which will enable the operational departments of the hydrometeorological service to be provided by specialists who meet the modern requirements of the World Meteorological Organization.
Climate change in any region leads to both a noticeable increase in the intensity and impact of e... more Climate change in any region leads to both a noticeable increase in the intensity and impact of extreme hydrometeorological phenomena and to emergence of new climatic threats. Thus it is highly important to develop and implement the measures allowing adaptation to climate and weather extreme phenomena associated with modern global warming. One of the top priorities of climate change adaptation strategies includes establishment of national/regional systems of climate services. The paper offers the ways of addressing such an urgent and important task for Ukraine as establishment of a national climate services system and analyzes the role of the National Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine in this process. Ukraine has an extensive network of hydrometeorological observation and monitoring assets. The National Hydrometeorological Service also has many years of positive experience and scientifically valid methods related to creation and distribution of climate information. However, est...
<p>In the frameworks of the European educational project Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multileve... more <p>In the frameworks of the European educational project Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation), further climate-related education is provided for professionals in the healthcare industry, as one of the climate-associated industries in Ukraine.</p> <p>A trans-disciplinary approach in developing distance and blended advanced training courses for medical doctors constitutes knowledge transfer in basics of Climatology and Economics of Climate Change at the pre-course and post-course stages. The main course includes modules on climate-associated pathology in Pulmonology, Cardiology, Neurology, Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatry. In view of the climate change an increase in occurrence of floods, wildfires, droughts and other natural disasters alongside extreme weather events is observed thus crucially setting down a requirement for development of a module on emergency primary healthcare.</p> <p>All the modules are to be developed and taught by high-level professionals, who hold at least a PhD degree. It is under the ClimEd project that blended courses on climate change and climate adaptation are to be designed and delivered for the target audiences of decision-makers in the healthcare industry and the wider public. This will bring in stabilization to the industry-specific aspects of nationwide economy through introduction of the aggregate of all settings, the online, onsite, and hybrid, to be applied in the educational process to ensure maximum efficiency in accordance with the stakeholders’ needs.</p>
<p><span>During the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, signific... more <p><span>During the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, significant warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly CO</span><sub>2</sub><span> and CH</span><sub>4</sub><span> into the atmosphere, is observed. The fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated a warming of 0.85˚C ± 0.20˚C during 1880-2012. This global warming has been changing atmospheric circulation patterns, which can result in accelerating and intensifying extreme weather events such as more violent storms, floods, droughts, heat and cold waves. The weather extremes can cause economic loss, as well as loss of human lives.</span></p> <p>In this study, the variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indices defined by ETCCDI, are examined using probability distribution analysis and spatial statistics for periods of 71 to 137 years for 16 stations such as Ai-Petri, Askaniia-Nova, Chernivtsi, Feodosiya, Kerch, Kyiv, Lubny, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Shepetivka, Uzhhorod, Uman, Vinnytsia. The indices data were obtained from www.ecad.eu.</p> <p>For Ukraine average, in the last 30 years, the number of summer days, warm days and nights, and warm spell duration index have reached historical highest values, while the number of cold days and nights, frost and icing days, and cold spell duration index reached the recorded lowest values.</p> <p>The distribution characteristics of extreme temperature indices showed the increased frequency of warm events is higher in the west of Ukraine than in its others regions while, on the contrary, the decreased frequency of cold events is higher in the rest of the country than in its western part.</p> <p>For all territory of Ukraine, an increase in maximum daily and maximum 5 days precipitation amount, the maximum number of consecutive wet days, heavy and very heavy precipitation days, and a decrease in the maximum number of consecutive dry days are observed for the last three decades.</p> <p>A combination of harmonic regression and spectral analysis was applied to the time series for which the Mann-Kendal method revealed statistically significant trends, to predict the annual and seasonal temperature and precipitation, maxima of daily maximum temperature, minima of daily minimum temperature, maximum 1-day precipitation amount and consecutive dry days up to 2050.</p> <p>The annual temperature was predicted to increase in the study area, with an increasing rate of 0.3-0.5°C decade<sup>−1</sup> up to 2050. The increasing rate of the maxima value of the daily maximum temperature is the same. Minima value of daily minimum temperature was predicted to increase the most from 0.44 to 0.62°C decade<sup>−1</sup>. Seasonal values of all indices were predicted to grow, especially in summer and winter for maxima of daily maximum temperature and in spring for minima of daily minimum temperature.</p> <p>Precipitation is predicted to increase in the range of 4 to 22 mm in decade<sup>−1</sup>, the most increasing rate will be observed in stations located in the western and central parts of Ukraine. For the period up to 2050 for most of the territory of Ukraine time series of annual and seasonal maximum 1-day precipitation showed slightly increasing trends while the annual and seasonal consecutive dry days are anticipated to decrease insignificantly.</p>
<p>Adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its consequences is one of the go... more <p>Adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its consequences is one of the goals of sustainable development. Therefore, one of the main priorities of national hydrometeorological services is elaboration of climate service systems at the national level. The global framework for climate services established in 2009 provided a powerful impulse for development of such services in many countries including Ukraine.</p> <p>It is for establishment of the national climate services in Ukraine that the Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation; http://climed.network) project was initiated and supported by the European Union. One of the ClimEd main objectives is to determine a competence base for development of climate educational courses on climate with the content that meets the expectations and requirements of both the national and international legislation and the needs of climate-dependent sectors of Ukrainian economy.</p> <p>To determine the requirements of various sectors of the economy for climate information as well as to comprehend the nature and extent of its use in their daily and planned activities, 297 respondents were interviewed. The surveys covered 7 sectors of the economy such as healthcare, urban management, water management, energy, agriculture, civil engineering and architecture, nature conservation. Several international transdisciplinary discussion panels, the international scientific and practical conference “Climate Services: Science and Education” and the 2<sup>nd</sup> All-Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Congress were held. These allowed to adapt the surveys’ results to national and international standards in the field of the climate education. To learn and follow the best European Universities educational practices, three trainings were held (see details at http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings). Moreover, 48 representatives of the Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine were also interviewed as well as meetings with discussions were held with the heads of Ukrainian regional hydrometeorological centers. This allowed to assess the needs for modernisation the Ukrainian National Meteorological Service. In principle, all these obtained results can be updated annually and used for future continuous modernisation of the climate related educational system and for its effective response to demands of the modern labour market.</p> <p>Although the ClimEd project has been temporarily suspended (Feb 2022 - Aug 2023), development of educational and teaching materials will be resumed starting autumn 2023. Such materials are crucially important for: continual and comprehensive professional training of specialists in the field of climate services, inter- and transdisciplinary training of specialists in climate-dependent sectors of the economy, and decision-makers in the field of climate change and climate adaptation.</p>
The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in late February 2022 has far-reaching e... more The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in late February 2022 has far-reaching environmental consequences, especially regarding water resources and management. Here we analysed the multifaceted impacts of the military actions on freshwater resources and water infrastructure during the first three months of the conflict. We identified the nature of the impacts, the kind of pressures imposed on the water sector and the negative consequences for the availability and quality of freshwater resources for the civilian population. Our results showed that many water infrastructures such as dams at reservoirs, water supply and treatment systems and subsurface mines have been impacted or are at risk from military actions. Continuation of the conflict will have multiple negative sustainability implications not only in Ukraine but also on a global scale, hampering achievement of clean water and sanitation, conservation and sustainable use of water resources, and energy and food ...
Journal of Scientific Papers "Social development and Security", 2020
В досліджені розглянуто проблема розробки комплексних методів попередження надзвичайних ситуацій ... more В досліджені розглянуто проблема розробки комплексних методів попередження надзвичайних ситуацій з накопичувальним та імпульсним негативним впливом наслідків на стан довкілля, які за своєю природою відносяться до кола задач спільної проблематики наукових напрямків цивільного захисту та екологічної безпеки. З метою вирішення поставленої задачі послідовно розглянуті широке коло пов’язаних між собою завдань, які дозволили в рамках існуючих світових підходів щодо формування методології наукових досліджень в області швидко прогресуючих сфер природно-техногенно-соціального середовища, дослідити процес діалектичної трансформації поля проблематики цивільної безпеки, визначити основні її етапи та характерні умови. Останнє дало змогу визначити логічні зв’язки, які дозволили суттєво зменшити наявні методологічні розбіжності спеціальних методів окремих наукових напрямків та однозначно узгодити у подальшому вибір групи методів з доказу достовірності отриманих результатів в межах застосування шу...
<p>The Erasmus+ ClimEd (2021-2023; http://climed.network; &#822... more <p>The Erasmus+ ClimEd (2021-2023; http://climed.network; “<em>Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation</em>”) project is aimed at the development of competency-based curricula for continuous comprehensive training of specialists in the field of climate services and additional education in climate change for decision-makers, experts in climate-dependent economic sectors, and public.</p><p>Some of the goals and objectives of the project are closely related to the Pan-Eurasian EXperiment (PEEX; www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex), and especially with multi-disciplinary, -scale and -component study climate change at resolving major uncertainties in the Earth system science and global sustainability issues.</p><p>The ClimEd Trainings (http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings), in total 7, will be carried out during the project and will be focused on training the faculty/ teaching/ research staff and postgraduates at the ClimEd partner institutions and collaborating organizations in advanced educational and information-and-communication technologies for building a flexible multi-level integrated practice-based education system in the field of Climate Services, Climate Change  Adaptation and Mitigation.</p><p>Due to COVID pandemic situation, the originally planned face-to-face first trainings (in Estonia, Ukraine, and Finland) were converted into online training. Such online trainings were divided into 3 consecutive blocks: (i) online lecturing, (ii) home-work-assignments (HWAs) as group projects with established internal communication between the member of the groups and with an option of zoom-consulting during remote work, and (iii) final oral presentations (projects’ defenses) of HWAs with evaluation and feedback, discussions, and awarding certificates (corresponding to ECTS credits) with achieved learning outcomes. The majority of HWAs are based on the ClimEd main themes linking climate change vs. agriculture, energy, technical design and construction, urban economy, water management, health care; although other themes of interest can be selected by groups. Trainings also include questionnaires distributed among participants: evaluation of the training, and evaluation of own learning outcomes. Technically, the Moodle system, Zoom-hosting, e-evaluations, etc. are actively utilized in such trainings. All materials of the trainings are always publicly accessible online at the ClimEd project website as well as long-term stored at the Moodle system for each training.</p><p>The outcomes/ summaries – including the lecture topics and learning outcomes, information resources, themes of group projects, feedbacks and training results, established network-community of the training participants (trainees and lecturers and teachers of HWAs) – of the online training approach will be presented for the ClimEd Trainings. Summaries are available for: 1<sup>st</sup> training “<em>Competence-Based Approach to Curriculum Development for Climate Education</em>”; 19 Apr – 12 May 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-1-online); 2<sup>nd</sup> – “<em>Adaptation of the Competency Framework for Climate Services to conditions of Ukraine</em>” (29 Jun – 26 Aug 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-2-online); 3<sup>rd</sup> – “<em>Digital tools and datasets for climate change education</em>” (26 Oct – 12 Nov 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-3-online); and 4<sup>th</sup> “<em>Developing learning courses in climate services considering needs of different users</em>” (7–11 February 2022; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-4).</p>
<p>In view of unprecedented negative changes threatening safe existence of ... more <p>In view of unprecedented negative changes threatening safe existence of the humankind and taking place in all parts of the Earth system, decisive and rapid measures are needed to reduce vulnerability, which had been manifested in the Sustainable Development Goals which are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.</p><p>Despite numerous efforts in the field of combating climate and environmental change on planet Earth, negative trends leading to degradation of the planet persist to grow, which can be explained by many reasons such as lack of awareness of the threat that the humankind faces in the business community and the society, lack of flexibility in the response of the countries’ economies to the challenges of the time, weak ties between science, education and the economy.</p><p>In order to eliminate the above-mentioned causes and provide for society's transition to sustainable development, it is necessary to lay the foundations for a new type of education that would make it possible to arrive at continuous education in the field of Earth Sciences based on the principles of environmental law and sustainable development, with interdisciplinary interaction and cooperation of science, education and economics taken account of. The training should use a variety of modern educational tools to reach the widest range of target groups and promote climate and environmental literacy in the society.</p><p>Since the existing education system is not able to respond in a timely manner to the new challenges of the time, introduction of a new type of education requires setting up a completely new educational structure - a center of excellence - which, due to a number of advantages, compared to traditional university structures, meets modern demands in the field of education and being a multi-level, dynamic and flexible system, could effeciently be adapted to the pressing needs of the time to provide the entire range of educational servicesm, long-term to short-term courses, up to micro-learning, for various target groups and is able to function under the conditions of dominant inter- and transdisciplinarity.</p><p>Under the new conditions that the world has been facing since 2020, in order to facilitate access to educational resources, development of networked on-line study programmes, with involvement of world-class experts in work on educational courses and mutual learning, which significantly expands dissemination and tools for societal impact, the center of excellence is to feature a virtual scientific-and-educational IT platform. The Center of Excellence is to play the role of a consultuncy board, which will provide for transfer of knowledge in a targeted manner, in the form that is the most agreeable for the end-user and therefore is the most attractive to entice a wide range of stakeholders.</p><p>Due to the unique geographical location, as well as the accumulated scientific and educational potential in the field of Earth Sciences, Odessa State Environmental University proposes setting up a Center of Excellence in the Field of Earth Sciences and offers cooperation to all interested parties.</p>
<p>In this study the trends and variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indi... more <p>In this study the trends and variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indices<br>defined by ETCCDI, are examined using trend method, probability distribution analysis and<br>spatial statistics for periods of 71 to 137 years for 16 stations evenly distributed in Ukraine. Data<br>on the indices were obtained from www.ecad.eu.<br>Since 1981, temperature has increased by about 1&#186;C in all stations in question relative to the<br>period of 1945-1980. Analysis of the temperature indices indicates that during the 20th and the<br>beginning of the 21th century there is significant warming which is particularly pronounced in<br>annual mean and annual maximum temperatures. Occurrence of more summer days, warm days<br>and tropical nights and warm spell duration reached the record highest level, and conversely<br>occurrence of frost and ice days, cold days and cold spell duration fall to a record low for the last<br>three decades in the most of study territory.<br>Since 1981, precipitation amount has grown by 30-50 mm relative to the period of 1945-1980 for<br>the most of Ukrainian territory, except Uzhhorod and Uman where precipitation amount has<br>remained the same. For Ukraine average, an increase in maximum daily and maximum 5 days<br>precipitation amount, the maximum number of consecutive wet days, heavy and very heavy<br>precipitation days, and a decrease in the maximum number of consecutive dry days are observed<br>for the last three decades.<br>The analysis of the spatial distribution of trend of precipitation and temperature indices showed<br>that there are large differences between regions of Ukraine, and coherence of spatial distribution<br>of trends of various indices is low.<br>Spectral analysis and harmonic regression techniques were used to derive simulated and<br>predicted (2019-2050) values of annual precipitation and annual mean temperature and four<br>indices such as maximum value of daily maximum temperature, minimum value of daily<br>minimum temperature, the highest 1-day precipitation amount and maximum number of<br>consecutive dry days for some stations such as Kerch (the Crimean Peninsula), Kyiv (situated in<br>north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River), Lubny (Dnieper Lowland), Lviv and Shepetivka<br>(Podillia Upland), Uzhhorod (Transcarpathia), Uman (Dnieper Upland).<br>Annual mean temperature and maximum value of daily maximum temperature were predicted to<br>increase by 0.33&#176;C per decade in the period of 2019-2050 with respect to 1981-2018, while<br>minimum value of daily minimum temperature was predicted to grow slightly faster (by 0.43-<br>0.63&#186;C per decade).<br>Precipitation was predicted to increase for the stations in question by 20-66 mm up to 2050<br>relative to 1981-2018 and conversely maximum number of consecutive dry days will slightly<br>decline except Lubny where increase in an aridity index was predicted. In the next three decades<br>changes in maximum daily precipitation will be various: in Shepetivka and Kyiv such<br>precipitation will be decreased and in other stations increasement in such precipitation will be up<br>to 6 mm till 2050 with respect to 1981-2018.</p>
The paper provides a chronological description of the aftermath and the effect of blowing up the ... more The paper provides a chronological description of the aftermath and the effect of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam by Russian occupation forces of 6 June 2023 on the seawater quality in the coastal zone of Odesa agglomeration, according to the results of operational environmental monitoring in the early weeks upon the man-made disaster. Such a description is indispensable for assessing the scope of pollution of marine water areas and calculation of the damage inflicted on the marine ecosystem and its natural resources, adjustment and verification of mathematical models which will further be used to prognosticate the consequences of the dam destruction for the marine ecosystem. According to the data published in open sources, development of the environmental, sanitary and microbiological situation in the coastal zone of the city of Odesa over June 2023 is described, the dynamics of some indices of the sea water quality are shown, and the pollutants the concentrat...
The article analyzes the changes that took place in the higher school of Ukraine over the past 25... more The article analyzes the changes that took place in the higher school of Ukraine over the past 25 years in terms of their impact on the system of training specialists with higher education in hydrometeorological specialties. Three stages of the higher education reforms and their impact on the training of personnel for the hydrometeorological service of Ukraine are singled out. The priority measures are proposed, which will enable the operational departments of the hydrometeorological service to be provided by specialists who meet the modern requirements of the World Meteorological Organization.
Climate change in any region leads to both a noticeable increase in the intensity and impact of e... more Climate change in any region leads to both a noticeable increase in the intensity and impact of extreme hydrometeorological phenomena and to emergence of new climatic threats. Thus it is highly important to develop and implement the measures allowing adaptation to climate and weather extreme phenomena associated with modern global warming. One of the top priorities of climate change adaptation strategies includes establishment of national/regional systems of climate services. The paper offers the ways of addressing such an urgent and important task for Ukraine as establishment of a national climate services system and analyzes the role of the National Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine in this process. Ukraine has an extensive network of hydrometeorological observation and monitoring assets. The National Hydrometeorological Service also has many years of positive experience and scientifically valid methods related to creation and distribution of climate information. However, est...
&lt;p&gt;In the frameworks of the European educational project Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multileve... more &lt;p&gt;In the frameworks of the European educational project Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation), further climate-related education is provided for professionals in the healthcare industry, as one of the climate-associated industries in Ukraine.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A trans-disciplinary approach in developing distance and blended advanced training courses for medical doctors constitutes knowledge transfer in basics of Climatology and Economics of Climate Change at the pre-course and post-course stages. The main course includes modules on climate-associated pathology in Pulmonology, Cardiology, Neurology, Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatry. In view of the climate change an increase in occurrence of floods, wildfires, droughts and other natural disasters alongside extreme weather events is observed thus crucially setting down a requirement for development of a module on emergency primary healthcare.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;All the modules are to be developed and taught by high-level professionals, who hold at least a PhD degree. It is under the ClimEd project that blended courses on climate change and climate adaptation are to be designed and delivered for the target audiences of decision-makers in the healthcare industry and the wider public. This will bring in stabilization to the industry-specific aspects of nationwide economy through introduction of the aggregate of all settings, the online, onsite, and hybrid, to be applied in the educational process to ensure maximum efficiency in accordance with the stakeholders&amp;#8217; needs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;During the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, signific... more &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;During the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, significant warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt; and CH&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt; into the atmosphere, is observed. The fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated a warming of 0.85&amp;#730;C &amp;#177; 0.20&amp;#730;C during 1880-2012. This global warming has been changing atmospheric circulation patterns, which can result in accelerating and intensifying extreme weather events such as more violent storms, floods, droughts, heat and cold waves. The weather extremes can cause economic loss, as well as loss of human lives.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In this study, the variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indices defined by ETCCDI, are examined using probability distribution analysis and spatial statistics for periods of 71 to 137 years for 16 stations such as Ai-Petri, Askaniia-Nova, Chernivtsi, Feodosiya, Kerch, Kyiv, Lubny, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Shepetivka, Uzhhorod, Uman, Vinnytsia. The indices data were obtained from www.ecad.eu.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;For Ukraine average, in the last 30 years, the number of summer days, warm days and nights, and warm spell duration index have reached historical highest values, while the number of cold days and nights, frost and icing days, and cold spell duration index reached the recorded lowest values.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The distribution characteristics of extreme temperature indices showed the increased frequency of warm events is higher in the west of Ukraine than in its others regions while, on the contrary, the decreased frequency of cold events is higher in the rest of the country than in its western part.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;For all territory of Ukraine, an increase in maximum daily and maximum 5 days precipitation amount, the maximum number of consecutive wet days, heavy and very heavy precipitation days, and a decrease in the maximum number of consecutive dry days are observed for the last three decades.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A combination of harmonic regression and spectral analysis was applied to the time series for which the Mann-Kendal method revealed statistically significant trends, to predict the annual and seasonal temperature and precipitation, maxima of daily maximum temperature, minima of daily minimum temperature, maximum 1-day precipitation amount and consecutive dry days up to 2050.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The annual temperature was predicted to increase in the study area, with an increasing rate of 0.3-0.5&amp;#176;C decade&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#8722;1&lt;/sup&gt; up to 2050. The increasing rate of the maxima value of the daily maximum temperature is the same. Minima value of daily minimum temperature was predicted to increase the most from 0.44 to 0.62&amp;#176;C decade&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#8722;1&lt;/sup&gt;. Seasonal values of all indices were predicted to grow, especially in summer and winter for maxima of daily maximum temperature and in spring for minima of daily minimum temperature.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Precipitation is predicted to increase in the range of 4 to 22 mm in decade&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#8722;1&lt;/sup&gt;, the most increasing rate will be observed in stations located in the western and central parts of Ukraine. For the period up to 2050 for most of the territory of Ukraine time series of annual and seasonal maximum 1-day precipitation showed slightly increasing trends while the annual and seasonal consecutive dry days are anticipated to decrease insignificantly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its consequences is one of the go... more &lt;p&gt;Adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its consequences is one of the goals of sustainable development. Therefore, one of the main priorities of national hydrometeorological services is elaboration of climate service systems at the national level. The global framework for climate services established in 2009 provided a powerful impulse for development of such services in many countries including Ukraine.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It is for establishment of the national climate services in Ukraine that the Erasmus+ ClimEd (Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation; http://climed.network) project was initiated and supported by the European Union. One of the ClimEd main objectives is to determine a competence base for development of climate educational courses on climate with the content that meets the expectations and requirements of both the national and international legislation and the needs of climate-dependent sectors of Ukrainian economy.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;To determine the requirements of various sectors of the economy for climate information as well as to comprehend the nature and extent of its use in their daily and planned activities, 297 respondents were interviewed. The surveys covered 7 sectors of the economy such as healthcare, urban management, water management, energy, agriculture, civil engineering and architecture, nature conservation. Several international transdisciplinary discussion panels, the international scientific and practical conference &amp;#8220;Climate Services: Science and Education&amp;#8221; and the 2&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; All-Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Congress were held. These allowed to adapt the surveys&amp;#8217; results to national and international standards in the field of the climate education. To learn and follow the best European Universities educational practices, three trainings were held (see details at http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings). Moreover, 48 representatives of the Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine were also interviewed as well as meetings with discussions were held with the heads of Ukrainian regional hydrometeorological centers. This allowed to assess the needs for modernisation the Ukrainian National Meteorological Service. In principle, all these obtained results can be updated annually and used for future continuous modernisation of the climate related educational system and for its effective response to demands of the modern labour market.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Although the ClimEd project has been temporarily suspended (Feb 2022 - Aug 2023), development of educational and teaching materials will be resumed starting autumn 2023. Such materials are crucially important for: continual and comprehensive professional training of specialists in the field of climate services, inter- and transdisciplinary training of specialists in climate-dependent sectors of the economy, and decision-makers in the field of climate change and climate adaptation.&lt;/p&gt;
The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in late February 2022 has far-reaching e... more The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in late February 2022 has far-reaching environmental consequences, especially regarding water resources and management. Here we analysed the multifaceted impacts of the military actions on freshwater resources and water infrastructure during the first three months of the conflict. We identified the nature of the impacts, the kind of pressures imposed on the water sector and the negative consequences for the availability and quality of freshwater resources for the civilian population. Our results showed that many water infrastructures such as dams at reservoirs, water supply and treatment systems and subsurface mines have been impacted or are at risk from military actions. Continuation of the conflict will have multiple negative sustainability implications not only in Ukraine but also on a global scale, hampering achievement of clean water and sanitation, conservation and sustainable use of water resources, and energy and food ...
Journal of Scientific Papers "Social development and Security", 2020
В досліджені розглянуто проблема розробки комплексних методів попередження надзвичайних ситуацій ... more В досліджені розглянуто проблема розробки комплексних методів попередження надзвичайних ситуацій з накопичувальним та імпульсним негативним впливом наслідків на стан довкілля, які за своєю природою відносяться до кола задач спільної проблематики наукових напрямків цивільного захисту та екологічної безпеки. З метою вирішення поставленої задачі послідовно розглянуті широке коло пов’язаних між собою завдань, які дозволили в рамках існуючих світових підходів щодо формування методології наукових досліджень в області швидко прогресуючих сфер природно-техногенно-соціального середовища, дослідити процес діалектичної трансформації поля проблематики цивільної безпеки, визначити основні її етапи та характерні умови. Останнє дало змогу визначити логічні зв’язки, які дозволили суттєво зменшити наявні методологічні розбіжності спеціальних методів окремих наукових напрямків та однозначно узгодити у подальшому вибір групи методів з доказу достовірності отриманих результатів в межах застосування шу...
&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The Erasmus+ ClimEd (2021-2023; http://climed.network; &amp;amp;#822... more &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The Erasmus+ ClimEd (2021-2023; http://climed.network; &amp;amp;#8220;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Multilevel Local, Nation- and Regionwide Education and Training in Climate Services, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#8221;) project is aimed at the development of competency-based curricula for continuous comprehensive training of specialists in the field of climate services and additional education in climate change for decision-makers, experts in climate-dependent economic sectors, and public.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Some of the goals and objectives of the project are closely related to the Pan-Eurasian EXperiment (PEEX; www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex), and especially with multi-disciplinary, -scale and -component study climate change at resolving major uncertainties in the Earth system science and global sustainability issues.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The ClimEd Trainings (http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings), in total 7, will be carried out during the project and will be focused on training the faculty/ teaching/ research staff and postgraduates at the ClimEd partner institutions and collaborating organizations in advanced educational and information-and-communication technologies for building a flexible multi-level integrated practice-based education system in the field of Climate Services, Climate Change&amp;amp;#160; Adaptation and Mitigation.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Due to COVID pandemic situation, the originally planned face-to-face first trainings (in Estonia, Ukraine, and Finland) were converted into online training. Such online trainings were divided into 3 consecutive blocks: (i) online lecturing, (ii) home-work-assignments (HWAs) as group projects with established internal communication between the member of the groups and with an option of zoom-consulting during remote work, and (iii) final oral presentations (projects&amp;amp;#8217; defenses) of HWAs with evaluation and feedback, discussions, and awarding certificates (corresponding to ECTS credits) with achieved learning outcomes. The majority of HWAs are based on the ClimEd main themes linking climate change vs. agriculture, energy, technical design and construction, urban economy, water management, health care; although other themes of interest can be selected by groups. Trainings also include questionnaires distributed among participants: evaluation of the training, and evaluation of own learning outcomes. Technically, the Moodle system, Zoom-hosting, e-evaluations, etc. are actively utilized in such trainings. All materials of the trainings are always publicly accessible online at the ClimEd project website as well as long-term stored at the Moodle system for each training.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The outcomes/ summaries &amp;amp;#8211; including the lecture topics and learning outcomes, information resources, themes of group projects, feedbacks and training results, established network-community of the training participants (trainees and lecturers and teachers of HWAs) &amp;amp;#8211; of the online training approach will be presented for the ClimEd Trainings. Summaries are available for: 1&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;st&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; training &amp;amp;#8220;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Competence-Based Approach to Curriculum Development for Climate Education&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#8221;; 19 Apr &amp;amp;#8211; 12 May 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-1-online); 2&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;nd&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; &amp;amp;#8211; &amp;amp;#8220;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Adaptation of the Competency Framework for Climate Services to conditions of Ukraine&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#8221; (29 Jun &amp;amp;#8211; 26 Aug 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-2-online); 3&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;rd&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; &amp;amp;#8211; &amp;amp;#8220;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Digital tools and datasets for climate change education&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#8221; (26 Oct &amp;amp;#8211; 12 Nov 2021; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-3-online); and 4&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;th&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; &amp;amp;#8220;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Developing learning courses in climate services considering needs of different users&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#8221; (7&amp;amp;#8211;11 February 2022; http://climed.network/events/climed-trainings/climed-training-4).&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;
&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;In view of unprecedented negative changes threatening safe existence of ... more &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;In view of unprecedented negative changes threatening safe existence of the humankind and taking place in all parts of the Earth system, decisive and rapid measures are needed to reduce vulnerability, which had been manifested in the Sustainable Development Goals which are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Despite numerous efforts in the field of combating climate and environmental change on planet Earth, negative trends leading to degradation of the planet persist to grow, which can be explained by many reasons such as lack of awareness of the threat that the humankind faces in the business community and the society, lack of flexibility in the response of the countries&amp;amp;#8217; economies to the challenges of the time, weak ties between science, education and the economy.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;In order to eliminate the above-mentioned causes and provide for society&#39;s transition to sustainable development, it is necessary to lay the foundations for a new type of education that would make it possible to arrive at continuous education in the field of Earth Sciences based on the principles of environmental law and sustainable development, with interdisciplinary interaction and cooperation of science, education and economics taken account of. The training should use a variety of modern educational tools to reach the widest range of target groups and promote climate and environmental literacy in the society.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Since the existing education system is not able to respond in a timely manner to the new challenges of the time, introduction of a new type of education requires setting up a completely new educational structure - a center of excellence - which, due to a number of advantages, compared to traditional university structures, meets modern demands in the field of education and being a multi-level, dynamic and flexible system, could effeciently be adapted to the pressing needs of the time to provide the entire range of educational servicesm, long-term to short-term courses, up to micro-learning, for various target groups and is able to function under the conditions of dominant inter- and transdisciplinarity.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Under the new conditions that the world has been facing since 2020, in order to facilitate access to educational resources, development of networked on-line study programmes, with involvement of world-class experts in work on educational courses and mutual learning, which significantly expands dissemination and tools for societal impact, the center of excellence is to feature a virtual scientific-and-educational IT platform. The Center of Excellence is to play the role of a consultuncy board, which will provide for transfer of knowledge in a targeted manner, in the form that is the most agreeable for the end-user and therefore is the most attractive to entice a wide range of stakeholders.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Due to the unique geographical location, as well as the accumulated scientific and educational potential in the field of Earth Sciences, Odessa State Environmental University proposes setting up a Center of Excellence in the Field of Earth Sciences and offers cooperation to all interested parties.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;
<p>In this study the trends and variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indi... more <p>In this study the trends and variations in 25 extreme temperature and precipitation indices<br>defined by ETCCDI, are examined using trend method, probability distribution analysis and<br>spatial statistics for periods of 71 to 137 years for 16 stations evenly distributed in Ukraine. Data<br>on the indices were obtained from www.ecad.eu.<br>Since 1981, temperature has increased by about 1&#186;C in all stations in question relative to the<br>period of 1945-1980. Analysis of the temperature indices indicates that during the 20th and the<br>beginning of the 21th century there is significant warming which is particularly pronounced in<br>annual mean and annual maximum temperatures. Occurrence of more summer days, warm days<br>and tropical nights and warm spell duration reached the record highest level, and conversely<br>occurrence of frost and ice days, cold days and cold spell duration fall to a record low for the last<br>three decades in the most of study territory.<br>Since 1981, precipitation amount has grown by 30-50 mm relative to the period of 1945-1980 for<br>the most of Ukrainian territory, except Uzhhorod and Uman where precipitation amount has<br>remained the same. For Ukraine average, an increase in maximum daily and maximum 5 days<br>precipitation amount, the maximum number of consecutive wet days, heavy and very heavy<br>precipitation days, and a decrease in the maximum number of consecutive dry days are observed<br>for the last three decades.<br>The analysis of the spatial distribution of trend of precipitation and temperature indices showed<br>that there are large differences between regions of Ukraine, and coherence of spatial distribution<br>of trends of various indices is low.<br>Spectral analysis and harmonic regression techniques were used to derive simulated and<br>predicted (2019-2050) values of annual precipitation and annual mean temperature and four<br>indices such as maximum value of daily maximum temperature, minimum value of daily<br>minimum temperature, the highest 1-day precipitation amount and maximum number of<br>consecutive dry days for some stations such as Kerch (the Crimean Peninsula), Kyiv (situated in<br>north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River), Lubny (Dnieper Lowland), Lviv and Shepetivka<br>(Podillia Upland), Uzhhorod (Transcarpathia), Uman (Dnieper Upland).<br>Annual mean temperature and maximum value of daily maximum temperature were predicted to<br>increase by 0.33&#176;C per decade in the period of 2019-2050 with respect to 1981-2018, while<br>minimum value of daily minimum temperature was predicted to grow slightly faster (by 0.43-<br>0.63&#186;C per decade).<br>Precipitation was predicted to increase for the stations in question by 20-66 mm up to 2050<br>relative to 1981-2018 and conversely maximum number of consecutive dry days will slightly<br>decline except Lubny where increase in an aridity index was predicted. In the next three decades<br>changes in maximum daily precipitation will be various: in Shepetivka and Kyiv such<br>precipitation will be decreased and in other stations increasement in such precipitation will be up<br>to 6 mm till 2050 with respect to 1981-2018.</p>
Uploads
Papers by Sergiy Stepanenko