Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Windthrows in the Forest Zone of Western Siberia in 2001–2020

The spatial and temporal distribution of windthrows in the forest zone of Western Siberia for the period 2001–2020 is considered. Windthrow data are obtained from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite images, Global Forest Change project data, and high spatial resolution images from open mapping services. Data from the network of weather stations, images from meteorological satellites, and information on hazardous weather events observed in the region are used to specify dates and time of storm events. The compiled database includes 25 774 elementary damaged areas, which refer to 265 different windthrows. These windthrows were caused by 158 different storm events. The data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare. 19582786.v1 . The total area of windthrows is 508.3 km 2 or 0.04% of the total forested area, which is four times less than in the European Russia (ER) for the same period. More than 67% of windthrows included in the database were caused by tornadoes. They also account for 25.4% of the total area, which is much more than in the ER. Squall-induced windthrows account for 30% of cases and 40% of the total area, and windthrows caused by nonconvective events account for 2.5% of cases and 34.5% of the total area. The maximum density of windthrows is found in the Kemerovo oblast, as well as in the west of Tomsk oblast and in the southeast of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug. The largest number of windthrows was recorded in 2007 and 2010. Tornadoes and squalls, which cause windthrows, are most often observed in June, and windthrows caused by nonconvective events were observed in October–November in the Ural and Kuznetsk Alatau mountains. Several large outbreaks of squalls and tornadoes are identified. However, with respect to the area of forest damage, they are 10–15 times less than the largest similar events on ER. The area of windthrows in Western Siberia is 77.5 times less than the area of burns during the same period, with a ratio of 3.5/1 for ER.