Geography of Serbia
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This article is part of the series: Republic of Serbia
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Serbia is located in the Balkans (a historical and geographical region of southeastern Europe) and in the Pannonian Plain (a region of central Europe). It shares borders with Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Romania. It is landlocked, although access to the Adriatic is available through Montenegro, and the Danube River provides shipping access to inland Europe and the Black Sea.
Terrain
Serbia's terrain ranges from rich, fertile plains of the northern Vojvodina region, limestone ranges and basins in the east, and in the southeast ancient mountains and hills. The north is dominated by the Danube River. A tributary, the Morava River flows through the more mountainous southern regions.
In Central Serbia, the terain consists chiefly of hills, low and medium-high mountains, interspersed with numerous rivers and creeks. The main communication and development line stretches southeast of Belgrade, towards Niš and Skopje (in Republic of Macedonia), along the valley of Great and South Morava river. Most major cities are located on or around that line, as well as the main railroad and highway. On the East of it, the terrain quickly rises to limestone ranges of Stara Planina and Homolje, relatively sparsely populated. On the West, height of mountains slowly rises towards southwest, but they do not form real ridges. The highest mountains of that area are Zlatibor and Kopaonik. On Kosovo, larger fields of Kosovo and Metohija are located, ending in high mountain ridges of Prokletije and Šar-planina on Albanian and Macedonian border.
Mountains
The highest mountain peak in Serbia is Đeravica (2,656 m), on Prokletije mountain in Kosovo. The highest peak in Central Serbia is Midžor on Stara Planina (2,169 m), while Vršački breg (641 m) tops Vojvodina.Climate
Climate of Serbia is moderate continental with a diversity on local level, caused by geographic location, relief, terrain exposition, presence of river and lake systems, vegetation, urbanization etc. Proximity of the mountain ranges of Alpes, Carpates, Rhodopes, as well as Adriatic Sea and Pannonian plain affect the climate. Location of river ravines and plains in the northern area of the country enable occasional deep southward protrusion of polar air masses on winters, while hot Saharan air often intrudes over the Mediterranean Sea on summers.
Average annual air temperature for the period 1961-1990 for the area with the altitude of up to 300 m amounts to 10.9 °C. The areas with the altitudes of 300 to 500 m have average annual temperature of around 10.0 °C, and over 1000 m of altitude around 6.0 °C.
Annual precipitation, generally, rises with altitude. In lower regions, it ranges in the interval from 540 to 820 mm, areas on altitude over 1000 m receive in average 700 to 1000 mm, and some mountainous summits in southwestern Serbia up to 1500 mm. Major part of Serbia has continental precipitation regimen, with peak in the the summer period, except for southwest, which receives highest precipitation autumn. June is the rainiest month, with the average of 12 to 13 % of total annual amount. February and October have the least precipitation. Snow cover can occurs from November to March, and majority of days with snow cover is in January.
Annual sums of solar radiation are in the interval from 1500 to 2200 hours annually.
Surface air circulation is largely influenced by orographic lift. In warmer part of the year, winds from northwest and west prevail. In Vojvodina and Northern Serbia, east-southeast wind, košava, dominates over autumn and winter. Southwestern winds prevail in mountainous part of southwestern Serbia.[Hydrometeorologic Service of Serbia]
Natural Resources
Nature preservation
Serbia has five national parks and many national nature reserves.
National parks:
- Fruška Gora (250 km²)
- Kopaonik (120 km²)
- Tara (220 km²)
- Đerdap (Iron Gate) (640 km²)
- Šar-planina (390 km²)
- Prokletije (1000 km²)
- Gornje Podunavlje (100 km²)
- Stara Planina (1420 km²)
- Golija (750 km²)
- Kučajske planine (1150 km²)
- Deliblato Sands (300 km²)
- Ludaš Lake (5.93 km²)
- Obedska Pond (175.01 km²)
- Stari Begej – Carska Bara (17.67 km²)
- Đavolja Varoš (0.64 km²)
Geology
See main article Geology of SerbiaSee also
- Geography of Europe
- Geography of Serbia and Montenegro
- Geography of Montenegro
- Geography of Vojvodina
- Regions of Serbia
- Districts of Serbia
- Demographics of Serbia
- Extreme points of Serbia and Montenegro
References
Countries: Germany · Austria · Slovakia · Hungary · Croatia · Serbia · Romania · Bulgaria · Ukraine · Moldova
Cities: Ulm · Ingolstadt · Regensburg · Passau · Linz · Vienna · Bratislava · Budapest · Győr · Baja · Vukovar · Ilok · Novi Sad · Belgrade · Drobeta-Turnu Severin · Vidin · Ruse · Brăila · Galaţi · Tulcea
Tributaries (list): Iller · Lech · Regen · Isar · Inn · Morava · Drava · Tisza · Sava · Timiş · Velika Morava · Jiu · Iskar · Olt · Osam · Yantra · Vedea · Argeş · Ialomiţa · Siret · Prut
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