Water regime of the Argun’ river and Lake Hulun Nur under anthropogenic impact

In arid regions of Central Asia, cyclicity in the humidification behavior of a region shows long-term trends of changes in the water levels of closed lakes. Thus, the last 10 years saw a decrease in the water level by several meters on one of the region’s largest lakes — Hulun Nur (PRC). For water level stabilization on the PRC’s territory, a package of measures is undertaken for a partial Hailar river flow transfer (in the upper reaches of the Argun’ river) to Lake Hulun Nur. It is obvious that the lake’s water level regime will experience substantial changes. This paper discusses a variety of consequences of the river flow transfer and different water management modes, and forecasts the lake’s possible level regime, the Argun’ river discharge and the ecological consequences of measures of this kind for the Russian part of the drainage basin.