[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…
Category: Water
Dust detectors in the Aral Sea basin
The Aral Sea repeatedly appeared and disappeared over the last century but has now steadily decreased as the dust increased, resulting in desertification. There is still water in the north of the Aral Sea but the ‘desert’ lakebed in the middle has more dust and sandstorms than anywhere else in the world. Researchers used two…
Climate change impact on river basins in Ukraine 2020
The researchers used six models comparing precipitation and drought based on river levels using RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. Their predictions show a decrease in water in most of the eight main river basins, particularly between 2040 – 2070. The greatest reductions by the end of the century are predicted for Pripyat, Southern bug…
Catching raindrops in Primorye
Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed mathematical models to predict flooding effects and assist with an action plan. To develop and test their models, they used flooding data from flooding in Primorye in 2001. They included the flooding area, water level, temperature and velocity. They also included human and animal populations in…
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…
Silent soldiers of the environmental protection: the issues and challenges of the Russian peatlands.
Peatlands are a key element of environmental sustainability and have a special place in the context of climate change. However, their importance is still underrated in Russia. We discussed the current challenges with Dr Tatiana Minayeva, the leader of the Russian peatland restoration project at Wetlands International. How did you become professionally involved in climate change…
Will European Russia run out of water because of climate change: Maria Sidorova
In the laboratory of hydrology of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Maria and her colleagues found out which regions of the European territory of Russia in the future will most of all suffer from a lack of water. The corresponding data was published in a separate chapter of the printed…
Distilling hard and soft water strategies in climate adaption policies
Despite Russia’s rich freshwater resources, it faces significant water problems, which arise from the country’s adaptation policy with low priority to climate action and less advanced risk management. Safonov from NRU HSE, Moscow outlines the key characteristic of water-related problems in the world’s biggest country. Firstly, Russia is one of the world’s leaders in its…
Linking science and action – how to resolve water challenges in Central Asia
With its mixed continental climate, Central Asia faces unstable periods of draughts and rains. This has led to serious water shortages across the regions (Fig. 1) followed by escalating water-based conflicts between countries, increased hunger and threatened economics. However, despite the scientific progress and the continuous international effort, Central Asian water management institutes still rely on…
Detecting a methane rush over the Arctic seas
The Arctic is warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the World. The Arctic ocean contains gigatons of organic carbon and methane hydrates. Warming may induce liberation of this methane into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas would start a positive feed-back: the warmer water – the faster methane emission, the higher concentration the…
Russian Climate Research 