Dangerous ice phenomena on the lowland rivers of European Russia

In the Russian climate, the security of populations and economic security are often limited by dangerous ice phenomena. Not only ice-jam floods, but also some processes lead to the violation of operating conditions of various facilities (water intakes, roads, bridges) and damage hydraulic structures and shipping. Currently, rivers’ ice regime characteristics change under the influence of both natural (primarily climatic) and anthropogenic factors. Changes have been analyzed in detail on the basis of observations of 300 hydrological stations in the period from 1936 to 2013. Changes of ice phenomena hazards have been estimated. Hazard assessment of flooding caused by ice jams has been carried out for the Northern Dvina River reach from the Velikiy Ustyug City to Kotlas, the most problematic ice jam flooding area in European Russia. The modeling was performed on the basis of STREAM_2D software complex for current conditions and taking into account the possible construction of various protective structures. Methods for the prevention of negative impact of water at the site are examined.