Decline+of+the+USSR+Research+Climate+and+Geographic+Factors

(Cole, 61)
 * Siberia was a really cold part of the USSR (http://www.wideview.it/travel/Yakutia_2007/Big/P1100045.jpg) ||
 * Soviet Union famous for extreme cold.
 * Cold temperatures encompassed most of the USSR(http://www.photius.com/countries/soviet_union_former/climate/soviet_union_former_climate_climate.html)
 * Millions of square kilometers had subzero temperatures for half the year.
 * Those same expanses of land were also covered in permafrost.(http://www.photius.com/countries/soviet_union_former/climate/soviet_union_former_climate_climate.html)
 * Most of the eastern half of the Soviet Union is covered in permafrost
 * Top layers of permafrost melt in the summer
 * This causes flooding, and marshy conditions
 * Permafrost also makes construction work dangerous, and costly (Cole, 51)
 * Maintaining roads in permafrost regions of the USSR is very expensive
 * January in Sibera averaged around -50 degrees Celsius(http://www.photius.com/countries/soviet_union_former/climate/soviet_union_former_climate_climate.html)
 * Much of the USSR is close to the north pole(Cole, 54)
 * This means colder temperatures.(Cole, 54)
 * The Soviet Union is so large, that it encompasses many different climates.
 * The Soviet Union had low levels of precipitation.
 * This is because most of it is not near major oceans. (http://www.photius.com/countries/soviet_union_former/climate/soviet_union_former_climate_climate.html)
 * That also means that the Soviet Union is also very dry (Cole, 54)
 * The region of Caucasus was comprised of: Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and lower Russian SFSR
 * Caucasus was tropical, and had the large amounts of rainfall.(http://www.photius.com/countries/soviet_union_former/climate/soviet_union_former_climate_climate.html)
 * The far-eastern part of the Russian SFSR, which was connected to the Pacific Ocean, also had the largest amount of rainfall.(Cole, 54)
 * Temperatures are also very low in that region, as well as the northern part of the country(Cole, 54)
 * This leads to less evaporation, and excess amounts of moisture
 * The moisture leads to many swamps(Cole, 54)
 * Summer temperatures are not very different between soviet cities, and european cities(Cole, 61)
 * Winter temperatures are way colder
 * Month || Moscow || London || New York ||
 * July || 18 || 17 || 24 ||
 * January || -11 || 4 || 0 ||
 * Year Mean || 4 || 10 || 12 ||
 * Siberia, -65 temperatures are common (in the winter)(Cole, 61)
 * The large size of the USSR put a constraint on human impacts
 * People cannot travel very far
 * There are very few railroads to the resource rich north
 * It would take a large investment to reap rewards from northern resources
 * Conventional builds have trouble in the Soviet Union
 * Steel is more brittle in the cold
 * Oil solidifies quickly in the cold
 * Buildings have to be insulated from permafrost
 * Summer is shorter due to the USSR's northern latitude
 * Farming is hindered
 * Lack of rainfall also hurts crops badly
 * Soviets created numerous large dams
 * There were many soviet plans to change their environment
 * One such example is they wanted to divert, and reverse certain rivers