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Environmental studies in East Siberian tundra wetlands:The upcoming joint German-Russian POLYGON project (2009-2012)Sebastian Wetterich , Anatoly Bobrov , Ulrike Herzschuh , Hans Joosten , Lyudmila Pestryakova , Eva-Maria Pfeiffer , Lutz Schirrmeister , Dmitry Subetto , Vladimir Tumskoy , Sebastian Zubrzycki
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INTENTION
Permafrost regions are strongly affected by ongoing global warming. C
olygon ponds, mires and cryosols in polygonal
tundra wetlands which are sensitive to environmental and climate change. P
Respective
research often suffers by large uncertainties in quantitative and qualitative data as well as in long-term
observations. The
has been submitted to the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the
Russian Foundation of Basic Research (RFBR), and actually waits for approval.
ommon components of the
Arctic Siberian lowlands underlain by permafrost are p
ermafrost degradation
due to warming affects relief and hydrology, and has a tremendous ecological impact.
project Polygons in Tundra Wetlands: Dynamics and Response to Climate Variability
in Polar Regions - POLYGON
Joint Russian - German
Polygon Project
East Siberia 2009-2012
Laptev Sea
East Siberian Sea
Samoylov
Chokurdakh
Chersky
Le
na
Ind
igir
ka
Ko
ly
ma
STUDY SITES
Starting in summer 2009 polygonal tundra wetlands (APEX fieldwork
area No. 42; ) will be investigated along a
transect comprising three representative sites in the Lena Delta, and
the Indigirka and Kolyma lowlands across the Arctic Siberian North.
Jakobsson et al. 2008
Lena Delta Chokurdakh Chersky
Coordinates 72° 22’N; 126° 28’E 70° 37’N; 147° 55’E 68° 44’N; 161°1 9’ETJuly
TJanuary
TMean
+ 12.7 °C*
– 31.0 °C*
– 12.7 °C*
+ 9.7 °C**
– 36.6 °C**
– 14.2 °C**
+ 12.0 °C**
– 33.3 °C**
– 11.6 °C**
Mean annual precipitation 263 mm* 350 mm** 290 mm**Vegetation zoneCAVM**
Sedge grass, dwarf-shrub wetland (W2)
Tussock-sedge,dwarf-shrub, moss
tundra (G4)
Low-shrub tundra(S2)
Landscape type River delta River floodplain River floodplainPermafrost temperature*** -9 to -11 °C -4 to -6 °C -5 to -7°CPermafrost thickness**** 300 to 500 m 200 to 300 m 100 to 300 m*SPARC; **Rivas Martinez 2007; *** CAVM Team 2003; ****Geocryological Map 1991
ENVIRONMENTAL CHARCTERISTICS OF THE TRANSECT SITES
APPROACH AND METHODS
Using an interdisciplinary approach, modern, sub-recent, and fossil environments will be characterised and
compared in order to understand temporal and spatial environmental dynamics in relation to climate change.
Monitoring environ-
mental conditions
permafrost
of present-day
(e.g. hydrology,
weather) and of faunal and floral
communities n ponds,
mires and cryosols.
Observation and evaluation of according
ryogenic ( ) processes.
( ) i
c
By combining modern, sub-recent and
past environmental records, the proposed
project will contribute to the understanding
of small-scale variations of climate-sensitive
permafrost landscapes and allow a
differentiation between external climate
impact and internal polygon dynamics.
bioindicators
ReferencesCAVM Team (2003) Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map, Scale 1:7,500,000. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Map No.1.
http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska.Geocryological Map of the USSR(1991) 1 : 2,500,000.Jakobsson et al. (2008) Foreword to the special issue: Arctic Palaeoclimate and Its Extremes (APEX). Polar Research 27: 97-104.Rivas-Martínez S (2007) Global bioclimatics. Data set. Available online at http://www.globalbioclimatics.org
from Phytosociological Research Center, Madrid, Spain.SPARC - Sensitivity of Permafrost in the Arctic, unpublished data. Meteorological data from 1998 to present of Samoylov Island, Lena River Delta.
Available online at
East Siberian SeaSamoylov
72°N, 126°E
Le
na
Ind
igir
ka
Ko
ly
ma
East Siberia
SPARC monitoring on Samoylov Island
Contact: [email protected] Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Potsdam, GermanyMoscow State University, Department of the Geography of Soils, Moscow, RussiaAlfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Palaeoecology, Potsdam, GermanyUniversity of Potsdam, Department for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany, 5Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald, GermanyYakutsk State University, Department of Ecology, Yakutsk, RussiaUniversity of Hamburg, Institute of Soil Science, Hamburg, GermanyState Pedagogical Herzen University, Department of Geography, St. Petersburg, Russia, 9Moscow State University, Department of Geocryology, Moscow, Russia
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Photographs shown on the poster provided by Anatoly Bobrov, Larisa Nazarova, Anne Morgenstern, Dirk Wagner, Sergey Zimov,Frank Kienast, Merten Minke, AWI Potsdam and SPARC
Lena Delta Kolyma lowland
rhizopods chironomids pollen plant macrofossils
ostracods
Laptev Sea
Permafrost
Soils
Aquatics
Indigirka lowland
Modern environmentof polygonal tundra wetlands
Chokurdakh
70°N, 147°EChersky
68°N, 161°E
0204060
Depht[cm]
Polygon centrePolygon rim
Ice wedge
Active layer
Sub-recent environment
Fossil environmentpreserved inIce Complex
AIMS AND MAIN QUESTIONS
(i) How do polygon ponds, cryosols, and permafrost
in the polygonal tundra f the northeast Siberian
Arctic lowlands interact and how have they reacted
on climate changes on seasonal, annual, decadal,
centennial, and millennial time scales?
(ii) Does the biotic and abiotic states and interactions
in polygonal wetlands differ along the environmental
transect from the Lena river region to the Kolyma
river region?
(iii) How will the components of the polygonal tundra
wetlands change when permafrost degrades due
to climate change?
o
Abstract : EGU2009-5235№
