ИСТИНА

Overall impact of climatic conditions on human can be estimated using bioclimatic indexes. We used UTCI index to estimate bioclimate for the Russian territory. Initiated by Commission of the International Society of Biometeorology, and developed with support from the European Union within the COST Action 730, the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)aims at the assessment of the outdoor thermal conditions in the major fields of human biometeorology. This index was designed using the simulation of the human reaction by a multi-node model of human thermoregulation, which was integrated with an adaptive clothing model. 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. The assesment of the bioclimatic conditions is shown for the territory of Russia during the climate change. The calculation of monthly and seasonal average values of UTCI index for 512 meteorological stations in Russia was made using the program package BioKlima 2.6. Seasonal fluctuations of UTCI index and changes of distribution of discomfort (comfort) levels during the climate change were shown for the Russian territory. Cold stress conditions (from low to extreme) were observed in the almost all territory of Russia for about 8–11 months a year. During the rest part of the year conditions are neutral or heat comfortable. The period of extreme and very high cold stress decreases during the modern climate warming, especially in Arctic, in the European part of Russia, in the western and central Siberia At the same time, the period with neutral and comfortable heat loads enhances.