Abstract Russia stands at the origins of world soil cartography. Given Russia’s vast and diverse territories, the production of current soil maps is an important task in the context of global climate change and food demand. This article provides a review of the digital soil mapping (DSM) field in Russia by identifying trends and research gaps. We examined studies published…
Tag: Arctic
Polar bear poo and human waste
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…
Pleistocene Park creators identify 3000 yr old Siberian weather using mummified wood
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…
Climate challenges for small indigenous groups in the Russian Arctic
[Ed. for further exploration of the topic, Matvienko cites 23 research studies from the last fifteen years included at the end of his article] Roshydromet’s data shows that the average annual air temperature in the Russian Arctic has warmed faster than other parts of the world. (Matvienko, 2023), affecting indigenous (Nenet, Evenk, Chutki) populations. These…
Arctic Science Diplomacy webinar recording
The Arctic Institute is a Washington based NGO. A recent article by Pavel Deyatkin summarises their view about cooperation prospects. The webinar was then streamed. Recording:
Economic vs climate strategy face-off in the Russian Arctic
Russian climate doctrine and strategy include climate change as one of the biggest 21st century challenges especially socio-economic development of the Arctic region with both opportunities and risks (Drachkova et al., 2023, Kremlin, 2020). The Arctic is warming twice as fast as other areas with reduced snow cover, reduced permafrost, increased precipitation. Sea ice is…
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…
Space-Time irregularities in the Siberian troposphere
Air circulation in Russia has been changing in particular the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) influence, affected by global temperature increases. Extreme weather in 2020 produced 372 events causing significant damage to Russia’s economy and population.1 Regional climate changes have greater space-time irregularities most commonly surface air temperatures rising faster in high latitudes. However this changes…
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…
Great Norilsk Expedition results in 2023
In 2020, scientists from across 14 branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences began the expedition in Taymyr. They are assessing the state of Arctic ecosystems in the area. Early results of impacts on Arctic waters, via TASS and the Institute of Biophysics (EN) at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB-RAS);…
Russian Climate Research 