Assessing of the Spatio-Temporal Climate and Airborne Pollution Changes and Trends in Ukrainian Steppe Zone

Abstract Land cover changes in arid zones with industrial agglomerations require a comprehensive spatiotemporal assessment of drought and soil airborne pollution. Geospatial maps were obtained for each level of the two time periods -2019-2021 and 2022-2024 based on the distribution and contextual significance of each parameter. An analysis of the identified trends in the climate change indicators (precipitations, evapotranspiration and land surface moister) allows us to speak about a meteorological type of drought complicated with large Kakhovka water reservoir disappearance in June 2023. At the same time, the advance of drought conditions was fixed in the LAI change in canopy density throughout the steppe zone of Ukraine by 2024. It was found that the progression of arid conditions has the character of horizontal zonality in the direction from south to north. The main differences in the risk of acid rain caused by industrial agglomerations are related to the spatial distribution of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere in the northern part of Ukrainian steppe.