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This research considers the process of degradation of the large, bitter-salty Lake Ebi-Nur, located in the Xinjiang (Northwest China), on the border with Kazakhstan. Satellite monitoring using LANDSAT-8 and SENTINEL-2 in recent years has shown the continuation of the process of rapid shallowing of this water body. The area of the lake water mirror decreased from 900 km2 in 2018 to 210 km2 in 2021. The reasons for the degradation of Lake Ebi-Nur are the withdrawal of a significant amount of river’s runoff for arable land irrigation, against the background of three (2019-2021) strongly low-water years. The stability of the water mirror area of Lake Ebi-Nur and the cultivation of over 600 thousand hectares of irrigated arable land in its basin is possible only with the alternation of low-water and high-water years. Three sharply low-water years in a row have brought the lake to a critical state. The continuation of low water in 2022, most likely, will transfer this lake to the state of a salt marsh. The degradation of Lake Ebi-Nur carries significant environmental risks. This lake is located in a natural area of very strong winds (Dzungarian Gate). The drained parts of lake’s bottom become sources of salt storms in direction to agricultural lands and large settlements, including the capital of Xinjiang, city Urumqi. A definite solution to the problem may be the transfer of additional water resources to the Lake Eb-Nur basin from the neighboring water-surplus valleys of the Ili River or the Kara-Ertis River. However, these rivers are transboundary (China-Kazakhstan) and additional returnable seizures of their water resources to the Lake Ebi-Nur will be hard perceived in Kazakhstan.

On the basis of long-term dynamics of the July’s vegetation data (NDVI and VCI indices) for 31 ranges of the Tien Shan and Jungarian Alatau arid mountains located in the Eurasia center are found the atmosphere stratification change. The variability of Atlantic Ocean water vapor transport ability over Northern Tien Shan ranges to the Inner Tien Shan was detected. This phenomenon not related to the overall seasonal humidity but is obviously associated with atmosphere stratification regimes. The analyzed period consists of two eras from 2002–2008 and 2008–2019 years, which differ in the regime of accessibility of the Inner Tien Shan ranges for water vapor from Atlantic Ocean. The overall tendency of the changes in 2002–2019 is the increase in the availability ocean water vapor to the Inner Tien Shan ranges. Recorded changes may be due to global air temperature increases and atmospheric processes intensification.

This paper considers the possibilities of assimilation of FEWS NET (Famine early Warning System Network) products in natural resource monitoring of the territory of Kazakhstan in the cold period. With an area of 2.7 million km2, Kazakhstan is located in the center of Eurasia in the arid zone, and snow is one of the most important water sources in the first half of the vegetation season. The products “Snow Depth”, “Temperature” and “Precipitation” developed for Central Asia are based on model meteorological data, including short-term weather forecasts. This information, presented in the form of regular matrices, has several advantages in efficiency and spatial detailing over direct ground (remote) measurements of meteorological parameters. The use of FEWS NET products for the environmental monitoring of the entire territory of Kazakhstan or its separate parts is of benefit for assessing the current situation on snow reserves, weather regimes and prospects for spring snowmelt.

The aim of this research was the analysis of long-term and seasonal dynamics of Irrigation Cooling Effect (ICE) of irrigated arable lands in test sites of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in agriculture province “Golodnaya stepp”, located in transboundary River Syrdarya basin. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) FEWS NET (Famine early Warning System Network) product was used for calculation and monitoring (2002- 2019) ICE values. The amount and efficiency of irrigation water usage significantly affects the ICE values. Therefore, long-term (2002-2019) ICE monitoring on arable land Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in “Golodnaya stepp” is important as an objective characteristic of irrigation parameters and their changes during the observation period. Analysis of data from 2002-2019 showed that in the key period (May-June) Uzbekistan's arable land is in a better position. Review of two eras 2003-2010 and 2011-2019 it showed that changes in ICE values are directed at: an increase in May, approximately 2.5° in Uzbekistan and 1.3° in Kazakhstan; an increase in July, 1.3° in Uzbekistan and 2.5° degrees in Kazakhstan; and a decrease in September, approximately 1.5° in Kazakhstan, with stable values in Uzbekistan. Thus, ICE monitoring in arid climates is a useful tool for diagnosing water consumption on arable land in various countries, which is especially important in transboundary river basins.

The territory of West Kazakhstan is an intensively developing region. The main oil and gas fields are concentrated there. In addition, this region is well-known as a region of nomad cattle breeding. Both of industry and agriculture demand a lot of employees, working in the open air in wintertime. Severe winter conditions, primary very low temperatures, and strong winds characterize the region. In this work, we calculated and analyzed the spatial and temporal distributions of effective temperatures in the region and their dynamics due to the global warming in the last decades. To calculate the equivalent temperature (WCET) was used the method of OFCM 2003. Nowadays, it is known as a common method for similar studies. It was shown that in the observed region, WCET is significantly lower than the ambient temperature. Repeatability of WCET, corresponding to «increasing risk», «high risk» is high in the main part of the region. Global warming in the region results in returning extremely high temperatures of the air, decreasing repeatability of the average gradation of WCET approximately on 4%, but there is no any visible changing repeatability of extreme WCET. Obtained results can be used for planning any construction work in the open air and agriculture branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]