ANALELE UNIVERSIT ĂŢ II BUCURE ŞTI GEOGRAFIE 2 0 0 5 SUMAR • SOMMAIRE • CONTENTS DOBROGEA – II NICOLETA IONAC, Main Bioclimatic Characteristics of the Romanian Shore on the Black Sea ............................................................................................................ 5 ALFRED VESPREMEANU-STROE, FLORIN T ĂTUI, The Influence of North Atlantic Oscillation on Romanian Black Sea Coast Wind Regime ....................................... 17 SORIN GEACU, Fauna Podi şului Dobrogei ................................................................ 27 ADRIAN TI ŞCOVSCHI, Particularit ăţ i ale temperaturii şi umezelii aerului în zona Cernavod ă .......................................................................................................... 39 LUMINI ŢA PREOTEASA, Some Considerations upon the Morphological Features of the Aeolian Landforms on Letea and Caraorman Complex Ridge Plains – Danube Delta .. 49 STUDII ABDELKADER ABDELLAOUI, ANDRÉ OZER, MIHAI IELENICZ, ILEANA GEORGETA P ĂTRU, L’Imagerie satellitale et son usage pour délimiter les zones de glissement. Cas de la Vallée de la Prahova (Roumanie) .......................... 59 IONU Ţ ŞANDRIC, Aplica ţii ale teoriei probabilit ăţ ilor condi ţionate în geomorfologie .... 83 4 DAN B ĂLTEANU, MARIN POPESCU, ANA UR ŞANU, Land Use in Romania under the Transition to the Market Economy .................................................................. 99 STERIE CIULACHE, GHEORGHE MANEA, Considerations on Pollution Control and Abatement Costs in Oil-Drilling and Processing Areas ......................................... 113 WILFRIED HELLER, Domestic Migration and Problems of Rural Post-Socialist Romania Studied by the Use of Statistics and Through the Eyes of Experts of the National, Regional and Local Level ................................................................................. 123 GEORGE ERDELI, BIANCA DUMITRESCU, Changes in the Demographic Size and Functional Structure of Romania’s Towns (1966 - 2002) ...................................... 139 MELINDA CÂNDEA, Types of Landscape and Aspects of Space Organisation in the Southern Carpathians .......................................................................................... 151 * Recenzii ......................................................................................................................... 161 MAIN BIOCLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANIAN SHORE ON THE BLACK SEA NICOLETA IONAC Introduction Out of all the environmental factors of physiological stress, the climatic ones are, perhaps, the most aggressive, because of their wide temporal variation and large spatial extent. If man can, for instance, protect himself by not drinking infested water or by leaving some contaminated area, he can’t avoid the invisible and permanent influences of cold or hot, dry or damp weather and climate, no matter how efficient steps of protection he may take. Since man is a “cosmic” being and, therefore, he must not only be aware of his weather- sensitive dimension, but also permanently assess his acclimatisation potential, in order to prevent any undesirable health effects. That is why, the bioclimatic study of some densely-populated or recreational regions may be beneficial in the systematic approach of environmental health, since human health is directly connected to climatic or microclimatic comfort. Moreover, some specific bioclimatic conditions may fruitfully be exploited for therapeutical activities which help human body to preserve or restore his vital capacity, greatly improving his efficiency. Location and morphology The Romanian shore of the Black Sea is 244 km long, stretching from the little Musura gulf (where one of the three Danube’s main distributaries – Chilia, is building a second-order delta) in the north, to the Vama Veche village, located on the Romanian-Bulgarian border, in the south. The width of the Romanian sea-shore is highly variable, depending on the morphology of the transition zone between continental and maritime Dobrudja (as the two main physical domains of the Dobrudjan Plateau are called), which roughly follows the Mahmudia-Cotu V ăii alignment, where the relief altitudes constantly keep 100 m above sea-level. 6 NICOLETA IONAC 2 According to its specific morphogenetic elements, the maritime sector of the Dobrudjan Plateau is also geographically divided into a distinct northern unit (lacustrine Dobrudja), with low-lying areas evolved either from fluvial deposition of sand-bars at the mouth of the Danube channel which forked into numerous distributaries developing natural levees and acquiring other branching outlets worldwide known as the Danube Delta , or from sand-bar accumulation along the sea-front outlet of the large Razim-Sinoe lagoon complex , merging, close to the Cape Midia, with a southern unit (coastal Dobrudja) represented by a higher plateau area, fragmented by elongated depressions along draining valleys, and cliff shores abruptly falling into the sea. The southern coastal area, stretching on a 82 km-long distance from the Cape Midia (in the north) to the Vama Veche village (in the south), is characterized by 5-12 km-wide gently-undulating platforms which smoothly-decline from W to E, into 25-30 m-wide sand-beaches locally bordered by 20-40 m-high, steep sea-walls. In fact, the specific relief forms in the southern coastal area may be grouped in two sectors: the seaside Cape Midia-Cape Siutghiol sector, with large sand-depositions intervening between seaward-extending promontories of varying dimensions and the coastal Cape Siutghiol-Vama Veche sector, with numerous 10-35 m-high cliff shores that are actively being eroded into ever-shrinking strips of land. As far as the beach areas are concerned, we must say that, although they represent only 1/4 of the total shore length and belong to different morphogenetic cathegories (erosional, sand-barred lagoons, artificial, etc), their fine-grained sand of mainly calcareous origin and east-oriented fronts, as well as their pretty large extent that may best accommodate modern touristic facilities, highly recommend them as one of the most important touristic destinations in Romania. That is why, the present study focuses on this specific much looked-for touristic area of the Romanian shore on the Black Sea, in order to give an accurate picture of the potential climatic benefits on human health and point to the probable restrictive bioclimatic elements that may impede human efficiency. Main climatic factors of influence Unlike continental Dobrudja, characterized by mid-latitude climate with eastern continental influences accounting for hot dry summers that maintain substantial soil moisture deficit or give severe droughts, the Black Sea coast is largely influenced by the moderating maritime conditions so that winters are generally milder, since air-temperatures often keep positive; the excessive heat during summer is greatly attenuated by the cooling sea-breezes; autumns are long and pleasant and springs are cool and damp, so that the resulting climate is considered an important factor of influence in balnear therapy. This is one of the reasons why investment has heavily been concentrated on the chain of 3 MAIN BIOCLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANIAN SHORE ON THE BLACK SEA 7 seaside resorts along the Black Sea coast, including Mamaia, Eforie, Neptun, Olimp, Jupiter,Venus and Cape Aurora between the two main port-cities of Constan ţa, located at the farther northern end of the 82 km-long coastline, and Mangalia, at its farther southern end. First of all, the specific climate of the area under study is characterized by the highest radiative potential in the country, since the mean annual amount of total solar radiation exceeds 125 kcal/cm 2 (127.4 kcal/cm 2 at Constan ţa), although it is unevenly distributed throughout the year, so that the monthly amounts range from a maximum value of 18.7 kcal/cm 2 in July, to a minimum value of 2.1 kcal/cm 2 in December, depending on the cloudiness. However, the total radiation sums during the warm season represent over 60% of the annnual amounts (May – 15.8 kcal/cm 2 = 12.4%; June – 17.6 kcal/cm 2 = 13.8%; July – 18.7 kcal/cm 2 = 14.7%; August – 16.6 kcal/cm 2 = 13% and September – 12.4 kcal/cm 2 = 9.7%), so that heliotherapy is an important component of the specific climatic therapy in the area. Moreover, the sunshine duration in the touristic season (May-September) also keeps constantly high: 52.3% of the annual totals in Mangalia and 63.4% in Constan ţa, both mean annual (2239.0 hours in Mangalia and 2284.1 hours in Constan ţa) and monthly values (Table 1) largely ranging between the two weather stations, because of local atmospheric conditions that account for higher cloudiness in Mangalia (partly due to its greater values of relative humidity) than in Constan ţa, where the summer lower values of relative humidity reduce convection intensity and, therefore, decrease cloudiness. The spatial and temporal distribution of air-temperatures along the Black Sea coastline also reveals interesting climatic influences, although the mean annual (11.3°C in Constan ţa and 11.2°C in Mangalia) and the average maximum values (14.8°C in Constan ţa and 14.9°C in Mangalia) are very similar; the lower average minimum value in Mangalia (7.4°C) as compared to the corresponding one in Constan ţa (8.0°C) owing to the moderating climatic effects of sea-waters which get stronger towards south. These effects are also evident when analyzing the monthly mean, maximum and minimum air-temperatures