Nikita and Sergey Zimov of Pleistocene Park in Sakha Republic of Russia, co-authored a study reconstructing Holocene weather conditions. This will help predict the effects of climate change in today’s Russian Arctic. Even Siberian permafrost regions have seasonal variation, especially summer and winter cycles.

Mean average annual temperatures and general mean average conditions were previously researched to reconstruct prior climatic conditions. However there was no baseline Holocene seasonal data from the Siberian Arctic. They collected mummified wood from the Pleistocene yedoma silt along the Kolmya river. The site has a mix of Larch forest and shrubs. They used the growth rings on the mummified wood to help date the samples, then extracted α-cellulose from the wood for radiocarbon dating.

Each fossil ring was sliced then the extracted cellulose was placed in centrifuge tubes and mixed with acids. They were rinsed with ethanol and deionised water. Sodium hydroxide was added then they were re-rinsed and dried overnight at 50 °C. They were weighed then carbon and oxygen isotopes identified using spectrometry and elemental analysis.

To understand the 3000 year old climate, data from regional weather stations was analysed. They reconstructed precipitation and temperature conditions from a range of high-latitude environments. They found a slight increase in 3000 year old MAT, cooler summers and warmer winters, however winter temperature rates have since tripled, compared with summer. This will help predict changing conditions across Arctic regions especially rainfall and temperature increases:

…”our results show that the relatively slight increase in mean annual temperature in the Siberian Arctic 3000 years ago relative to pre-industrial values, was due to notably increased winter temperatures, despite cooler summers. Within modern records, winter temperatures (November through January) have increased at triple the rate (0.95 °C/decade versus 0.35 °C/decade, 1981–2020) compared to summer temperatures (June through August), with MAT increasing at an intermediate rate of 0.65 °C/decade(Fig. 6). This work demonstrates greater sensitivity of winter versus summer temperatures in the Siberian Arctic region to climate change and the importance of winter temperatures in driving changes in MAT, both 3000 years ago and at present.”

Schubert, B.A., Lukens, W.E., Moore, C.S., Zimov N, Zimov S, Hope-Jahrens A, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-67947-1

Schubert, B.A., Lukens, W.E., Moore, C.S., Zimov N, Zimov S, Hope-Jahrens A. Carbon and oxygen isotopes in mummified wood reveal warmer and wetter winters in the Siberian Arctic 3000 years ago. Sci Rep 14, 17189 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-67947-1