Physical Environment: Donovia-West

Physical Environment Overview

Donovia West is situated in Eastern Europe on the East European Plain, the eastern part of the Great European Plain, the largest mountain-free landform in Europe, although a number of hills and highlands are interspersed within. The country is bordered to the north by the White Sea, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, all arms and bays of the Arctic Ocean.

In the west the country is bordered by Norway, Otso, a small part of the Baltic Sea (at the Gulf of Bothnia), the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, then Belarus and Pirtuni (from north to south), there is also a border with Poland (at Kaliningrad).

Table of Physical Environment Data

Measure	Data	Remarks
Land Area (sq miles)	1,528,965
Water Area (sq miles)	23,553 (est)
Land Border (miles)	12,577
Coastline (miles)	37,650
Arable Land (miles)	1,562,500
Perm. Crops (%)	.1%
Irrigated Land (miles)	16,603
Forested Land (%)	45%

Terrain

Most of Western Donovia consists of two plains (the East European Plain and the West Siberian Plain), two lowlands (the North Siberian and the Kolyma, in far northeastern Siberia), two plateaus (the Central Siberian Plateau and the Lena Plateau to its east), and a series of mountainous areas mainly concentrated in the extreme northeast or extending intermittently along the southern border.

Mountains

Mountain ranges are found across Donovia, with many of the major ones stretching along its southwestern, southeastern and eastern borders. In the far southwest the Caucasus Mountains slice across the land. The country's highest point, Mt. Elbrus at 18,481 ft. (5,633 m), is located there. Making up the natural border between Donovia and Asia, the Ural Mountains extend from the Arctic Ocean to Kazakhstan's northern border. The Kolyma Mountains in far northeastern Donovia extend about 1,126 km (700 mi) north and south to the east of the Kolyma River and roughly parallel to the coast of Siberia. Some rise to over 6000 feet (1830 meters).

Rivers

Donovia has more than 100,000 rivers with a length of 7 miles, or greater. Some of the world's longest rivers flow through the vast lowland plains that dominate the Donovian landscape. Significant rivers include the Volga, Dnieper and Dvina (west), the Lena, Ob, and Yenisey (central) and the Amur in the far-east. At 1,642 m (5,387 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest and among the clearest of all lakes in the world. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world.

Steppe

Long characterized as the typical Donovian landscape, the steppe region displays a broad range of treeless, grassy plains punctuated by mountain ranges, and provides the best conditions for human settlement.

Taiga

Accounting for over 60% of Donovia, this forested region extends from its western borders then east towards the Pacific Ocean. Donovia contains the world's largest reserve of coniferous wood, however, due to extensive logging the supply is steadily on the decrease; as well, to make way for agriculture, much of the forested zone has been cleared.

Tundra

Stretching 4,349 miles (7,000 km) from west to east, the Donovian Arctic is a vast treeless and marshy plain, and is well-known for its white nights (dusk after midnight, and dawn fairly soon after) through summer and days of near total darkness through winter.

Bodies of Water

Donovia has the longest continuous coastline of any country in the world. Stretching 37,650 KM, Donovia’s coastline touches both the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Other coasts lie along the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. The Black Sea provides Donovia with a warm water outlet to the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas through three Turkish-controlled water ways-the Bosporus, The Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles.

Mobility Classification

Movement in Western Donovia is less restricted in the upland steppes and lowland plains than in the mountains. Heavy snows and icy conditions seriously hamper troop movement in the mountains during winter months, while flooding causes mobility problems in spring and summer. The presence of dense forests in the north and south increases difficulties and provides cover for enemy forces and smugglers, while multiple rivers and streams challenge mechanized and motorized movement. Air operation impediments include tall mountains, thick forests, steep valleys and gorges, strong winds and sudden wind direction changes, low clouds, dense mist and fog, and dust storms.

Natural Hazards

Donovia is subject to many types of natural disasters, including hailstorms, tornadoes, wildfires, and floods. Mountainous areas experience land and mudslides, and has frequent earthquakes.

Subterranean Environment

Donovia, well aware of the advanced surveillance capabilities of its enemies, has developed a significant subterranean environment to combat this capability. This environment likely includes networks, tunnels, and facilities that support government-regulated, primarily military, activities and illicit criminal activities.

The underground facilities (UGFs) managed by the Donovian government support national missile and nuclear enrichment and development programs. Due to the sensitivity of these programs, much of the activity associated with them is conducted in the UGFs to provide protection from enemy detection and destruction.

Vegetation

Land Cover

The southern portion of Western Donovia climate is named “Dfb” in the Köppen climate classification. By definition, forests thrive within this climate. Biomes within this climate regime include temperate woodlands, temperate grasslands, temperate deciduous, temperate evergreen forests, and coniferous forests. Within wetter areas, spruce, pine, fir, and oak can be found. Fall foliage is noted during the autumn.

The northern portion of Western Donovia climate is called “Dfc” in the Köppen climate classification. Vegetation in regions with subarctic climates is generally of low diversity, as only hardy species can survive the long winters and make use of the short summers. Trees are mostly limited to conifers, as few broadleaved trees are able to survive the very low temperatures in winter. This type of forest is also known as taiga, a term which is sometimes applied to the climate found therein as well. Even though the diversity may be low, numbers are high, and the taiga (boreal) forest is the largest forest biome on the planet, with most of the forests located in Donovia and Canada. The process by which plants become acclimated to cold temperatures is called hardening.

Agricultural potential is generally poor, due to the natural infertility of soils and the prevalence of swamps and lakes left by departing ice sheets, and short growing seasons prohibit all but the hardiest of crops. (Despite the short season, the long summer days at such latitudes do permit some agriculture.) In some areas, ice has scoured rock surfaces bare, entirely stripping off the overburden. Elsewhere rock basins have been formed and stream courses dammed, creating countless lakes.

Natural Resources

Donovia is probably richer in natural resources than any other country in the world. It has abundant supplies of oil, natural gas, timber and valuable minerals, such as copper, diamonds, lead, zinc, bauxite, nickel, tin, mercury, gold and silver— most of which are located in Siberia and the Far East. The value of Donovia's resources is huge. Donovia is the largest country in the world; it covers a vast amount of topographically varied territory, including much that is inaccessible by conventional modes of transportation. The traditional centers of economic activity are almost exclusively located in the more hospitable European part of Donovia, which once offered considerable coal and natural gas to drive heavy industry. But the European fuel base was largely depleted by the 1980s, forcing Donovia to rely on Siberian deposits much farther from the industrial heartland.

Donovia’s raw materials provide significant inputs for an industrial economy. The abundance of oil and natural gas has made Donovia virtually self-sufficient in energy and a large-scale exporter of fuels. Oil and gas are primary hard-currency earners for the Donovian. Donovia also is self-sufficient in nearly all major industrial raw materials and has at least some reserves of every industrially valuable nonfuel mineral--even after the productive mines of Pirtuni, Kazakstan, and Uzbekistan no longer were directly accessible. Tin, tungsten, bauxite, and mercury were among the few natural materials imported in the Donovia. The forests of Siberia contain an estimated one-fifth of the world's timber, mainly conifers. 

Many of Donovia’s natural resources are located far from industrial processing centers. The fuel resources that supported development of industrial centers in European Donovia have been depleted, necessitating reliance on coal, natural gas, and petroleum from Siberian deposits. However, Donovia still has an estimated 6 percent of the world’s oil deposits and one-third of the world’s natural gas deposits, making it a major exporter of both commodities. In 2005 oil extraction reached a new high, placing Donovia close to Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer. Rich deposits of most industrially valuable metals, diamonds, and phosphates also are found in Donovia.

At one time Donovia was the world's second largest producer of gold after South Africa. By some estimates it contains 6 percent of the world’s gold reserves, including the 1,100-ton Sukhoi log, one of the world’s largest untapped deposits. The Donovian production figures are secret but its estimated that about 250 tons are produced each year, about a third of what comes out of South Africa. During the Soviet era, gold and diamonds were tightly controlled by the state. Even today the state is actively involved in both sectors

The platinum group of metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium) are among the rarest, expensive and useful of all metals. The are commonly found in the same regions, and are used in the automobile industry, mostly catalytic converters (38 percent), electrical and electronic industry (29 percent), dentistry (9 percent) and other (24 percent). Nearly all the world reserves of these metals are in South Africa and nations that comprise the former territories of the U.S.S.R.

There is a large uranium mine near Krasnokamensk, in the Altai region about 25 miles from where the Donovian, Mongolian and Chinese borders all come together. It is a gigantic hole, nearly mile long, three quarters of a mile wide and 330 yards deep. On the surround steppe are huge hills of tailings and ponds full sulfuric acid (used to separate the uranium from the ore), heavy metals and radioactive uranium.

Climate

In the Köppen climate classification, Donovia West is divided between Dfb (Temperate continental climate/Humid continental climate) and Dfc (Cool continental climate/Subarctic climate).

Dfb (hemiboreal). Humid continental climates are typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold in the northern areas) winters. Precipitation is usually distributed throughout the year. The definition of this climate regarding temperature is as follows: the mean temperature of the coldest month must be below −3° C (26.6° F) (or 0° C (32.0° F)) and there must be at least four months whose mean temperatures are at or above 10° C (50° F).

Dfc. The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, subalpine climate, or boreal climate) is a climate characterized by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. This type of climate offers some of the most extreme seasonal temperature variations found on the planet: in winter, temperatures can drop to −40° C (−40° F) and in summer, the temperature may exceed 30° C (86° F). However, the summers are short; no more than three months of the year (but at least one month) must have a 24-hour average temperature of at least 10° C (50° F) to fall into this category of climate and the coldest month should average below 0 °C (32° F) (or −3° C (27° F)). Record low temperatures can approach −70° C (−94° F).

With 5–7 consecutive months where the average temperature is below freezing, all moisture in the soil and subsoil freezes solidly to depths of many feet. Summer warmth is insufficient to thaw more than a few surface feet, so permafrost prevails under most areas not near the southern boundary of this climate zone. Seasonal thaw penetrates from 2 to 14 ft (0.61 to 4.27 m), depending on latitude, aspect, and type of ground. Some northern areas with subarctic climates located near oceans, have milder winters and no permafrost, and are more suited for farming unless precipitation is excessive. The frost-free season is very short, varying from about 45 to 100 days at most, and a freeze can occur during any month in many areas.

Seasons

Season	Months	Remarks
Winter	December-February	(Temp:6-23 F)(Snow:1”-3”)(Daylight:1-2HRS)
Spring	March-May	(Temp:17-66 F)(Rain:1”-2”)(Daylight:4-8HRS)
Summer	June-August	(Temp:51-71 F)(Rain:2”-3”)(Daylight:7-9HRS)
Fall	September-November	(Temp:26-60 F)(Rain:1”-2”)(Daylight:1-5HRS)

Weather

Precipitation

In the Dfc region, subarctic climates have very little precipitation, typically no more than 380 mm (15 in) over an entire year. Away from the coasts, precipitation occurs mostly in the warmer months, while in coastal areas with subarctic climates the heaviest precipitation is usually during the autumn months when the relative warmth of sea vis-à-vis land is greatest. Low precipitation, by the standards of more temperate regions with longer summers and warmer winters, is typically sufficient in view of the very low evapotranspiration to allow a water-logged terrain in many areas of subarctic climate and to permit snow cover during winter.

In the Dfb region, precipitation is relatively well distributed year-round in many areas with this climate (f), while others may see a marked reduction in wintry precipitation, which increases the chances of a wintertime drought. Snowfall occurs in all areas with a humid continental climate and in many such places is more common than rain during the height of winter. In places with sufficient wintertime precipitation, the snow cover is often deep. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms. Though humidity levels are often high in locations with humid continental climates, the "humid" designation means that the climate is not dry enough to be classified as semi-arid or arid.

Temperature-Heat Index

Temperatures vary with elevation in Donovia, with July being the hottest month. Average temperatures reach only 50°F in July. With moderate relative humidity levels and maximum temperatures that can reach 100°F in the north and even higher in the south, summer days can be quite uncomfortable.

Temperature-Wind Chill

Donovia has cold winters, with all areas experiencing subfreezing average temperatures. January is the coldest month, with averages as low as 30°F on the coasts, 18°F on the plains and steppes, and 1°F in the Ural Mountains. Monthly minimum air temperatures can reach -40°F in the northeast, with the country’s absolute minimum being around -65°F. Higher elevations also experience significant snowfall, especially in the mountains, which can be coupled with mist and fog.

Relative Humidity

As with other elements of weather in Donovia, relative humidity—which ranges from 40% to 100%— varies by elevation and location. The mountains are driest in April/May and reach peak humidity around September/October, with usual levels ranging from 60–100% throughout the year. The rest of the country experiences the lowest relative humidity from May–August (40%) and the highest during November–January (90%), with humidity increasing earlier in the year with greater northern latitude.

Wind

The year-round prevailing wind direction throughout Donovia is from the west. With the exception of the Ural Mountains the average wind speeds tend to be low to moderate throughout the country. This limits locations for potential wind power, but provides aircraft with a safer operating environment. The only exceptions to this are the occasional weather hazard—such as tornadoes—and some wind phenomena.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are the fens, or warm, dry winds. These winds may raise temperatures 25°F, reach 45 mph, and can change direction twice within a 24-hour period. Dust storms also occur in this region. They peak in May and August, and are more common during droughts.