Affected by ice free seas, polar bears are increasingly visiting human villages and adding human waste to their diet. So what are Russian Arctic bears eating? Researchers decided to analyse bear poo to measure natural vs human waste sources of food. Arctic sea ice melt has left polar bears unable to feed on their natural…
Category: ocean
Surfing the Russian coast – an atlas of wind and wave energy
Russia’s coastline includes seas and oceans stretching along 40,000 km. Wave energy varies between 29kW/M – 35 kW/M (Myslenkov et al., 2023) The researchers investigated on and offline mapping and methodologies forecasting wind and wave movements. They developed an open-access atlas so that anyone can get updated wind and wave information. This is now available…
Measuring methane from the Russian Arctic shelf
CO2 (carbon dioxide) are widely publicised but CH4 (methane) emissions are less known. These more potent methane emissions in the atmosphere are also caused by either natural or anthropogenic sources. When oxidised, CH4 leads to the formation of CO2 emissions in atmospheric ozone. Studies of land and water sources of emissions are more widely known….
A regulatory shhh across Arctic coastal ecosystems?
Alongside the Arctic Ocean, the Barents, White, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi seas are marine ecosystems including seabeds, ocean floor and subsoils. Increases in drilling of the continental shelf increases environmental impact. Yakovleva noted the most common issues are emissions, oil / oil product spills, pollution, waste (including metals, radioactive, plastic etc ), and…
What is lurking in Svalbard’s waters?
Researchers looked at marine biodiversity in Arctic waters near Svalbard, in particular the marine ecosystems in the Barents Sea and the Fram Strait region. In the lower benthic layers of the waters, there are greater biodiversity of e.g. zooplankton and fish species. There is a mix of warmer and saltier Atlantic water and colder Arctic…
Understanding rain, snow and cyclones across the Barents Sea
[Ed. Alexander Kislov and his team are some of Russia’s leading climate scientists] Interest in the effect of warming temperatures in the Arctic continues to grow, with researchers studying a range of impacts such as reduced sea ice, animal migration, flora changes and overall adaptation. However building an overall picture takes multiple projects and multiple…
An unusually windy, high salt diet of the Arctic Ocean
An international collaboration with Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences monitored the causes, impacts of circulation and sea ice decline in the Arctic Ocean between 2000 – 2019. Sea ice decline, and atmospheric warming affect the distribution of fresh and saline water with the changing currents. The researchers created simulations…
Russian Climate Research 