ИСТИНА

The impact of climatic conditions on human beings can be assessed using bioclimatic indices. In this study, the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied to assess the bioclimate in Russia. Index UTCI can be described as an equivalent environment temperature (° C) which provides the same physiological impact on human as the actual environment. Furthermore, similar to the human body, the UTCI is very sensitive to changes in ambient stimuli: temperature, solar radiation, wind and humidity. The UTCI scale is able to express even slight differences in the intensity of meteorological parameters. This feature allows to use UTCI throughout the Russian territory. Seasonal features, region-specific features, and extreme values of the UTCI were considered in the climatic conditions of 2001–2015. The UTCI values for the datasets were obtained in the daytime and at night in the territory of Russia using the software package BioKlima 2.6. It was established that all categories of cold stress and almost all categories of heat stress are observed in Russia, but the cold stress conditions prevail. In winter, cold stress of various categories predominated over almost the entire territory in both the daytime and at night. In summer, conditions of no heat stress and comfort were observed in the largest part of Russia, while conditions of moderate heat stress were noted in the south of the European part during daytime hours. Extreme cold stress occurred over almost the entire territory of Russia with the exception of the west border, the foothills of the Caucasus and the coasts of the Black and Caspian Seas. In the largest part of the country, the maximum UTCI values for the study period corresponded to slight and strong heat stress.