North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform as an innovative complex for research in the Arctic

The Russian presence in the Arctic Region and the development of the Arctic is one of the most important geopolitical interests of Russia. At the beginning of the 21st century, the problem of using innovative methods in Arctic research came to the fore. Based on the analysis of the unique work experience of drifting stations “Severniy Polus” (“North Pole”) (1937-2015), Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute specialists have concluded that the stations should be replaced by a modern scientific complex, capable of solving a wider range of problems. As a result, it was proposed to create an ice-resistant self-propelled platform (IRSPP) – an engineering structure for permanent basing of scientific observatories. The IRSPP is designed to conduct year-round comprehensive scientific research in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean and should make a long drift of at least one year together with the surrounding ice massive. The scientific complex of the IRSPP includes 16 different laboratories, including an ice load monitoring laboratory. A unique ice load monitoring system (ILMS) has been developed for the IRSPP. The ILMS will be an essential part of the system of safe operation and persistence of the IRSPP and will provide the platform hull with a measurement tool for studying the mechanics of deformation and destruction of sea ice in its interaction with the engineering structures. In all respects, the IRSPP is unparalleled in the world. Its use can open a new chapter in the exploration of the Russian Arctic and in international collaboration aimed at studying the northern latitudes. The platform was put into operation in 2022

Uncertainties and recommendations

An assessment of the impacts of changes in climate and UV-B radiation on Arctic terrestrial ecosystems, made within the Arctic Climate Impacts Assessment (ACIA), highlighted the profound implications of projected warming in particular for future ecosystem services, biodiversity and feedbacks to climate. However, although our current understanding of ecological processes and changes driven by climate and UV-B is strong in some geographical areas and in some disciplines, it is weak in others. Even though recently the strength of our predictions has increased dramatically with increased research effort in the Arctic and the introduction of new technologies, our current understanding is still constrained by various uncertainties. The assessment is based on a range of approaches that each have uncertainties, and on data sets that are often far from complete. Uncertainties arise from methodologies and conceptual frameworks, from unpredictable surprises, from lack of validation of models, and from the use of particular scenarios, rather than predictions, of future greenhouse gas emissions and climates. Recommendations to reduce the uncertainties are wide-ranging and relate to all disciplines within the assessment. However, a repeated theme is the critical importance of achieving an adequate spatial and long-term coverage of experiments, observations and monitoring of environmental changes and their impacts throughout the sparsely populated and remote region that is the Arctic

К 110-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ РОЖДЕНИЯ ЕВГЕНИЯ ВЛАДИМИРОВИЧА ПАВЛОВСКОГО

The article is dedicated to the 110th anniversary of E.V. Pavlovsky, an eminent geologist in the second half of the 20th century and a leading researcher of East Siberia. He discovered the Baikaltype through system in the Sayano-Stanovoe dome uplift. He authored a new theory of arc genesis and revealed a number of general regularities in development of the Earth's crust.Статья посвящена 110-летию со дня рождения выдающегося геолога второй половины XX столетия, крупнейшего исследователя Восточной Сибири. Ему принадлежит открытие системы впадин байкальского типа, врезанных в Саяно-Становое сводовое поднятие, формулировка новой теории аркогенеза и общих закономерностей развития земной коры

Effects of changes in climate on landscape and regional processes, and feedbacks to the climate system

Biological and physical processes in the Arctic system operate at various temporal and spatial scales to impact large-scale feedbacks and interactions with the earth system. There are four main potential feedback mechanisms between the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and the global climate system: albedo, greenhouse gas emissions or uptake by ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions from methane hydrates, and increased freshwater fluxes that could affect the thermohaline circulation. All these feedbacks are controlled to some extent by changes in ecosystem distribution and character and particularly by large-scale movement of vegetation zones. Indications from a few, full annual measurements of CO2 fluxes are that currently the source areas exceed sink areas in geographical distribution. The little available information on CH4 sources indicates that emissions at the landscape level are of great importance for the total greenhouse balance of the circumpolar North. Energy and water balances of Arctic landscapes are also important feedback mechanisms in a changing climate. Increasing density and spatial expansion of vegetation will cause a lowering of the albedo and more energy to be absorbed on the ground. This effect is likely to exceed the negative feedback of increased C sequestration in greater primary productivity resulting from the displacements of areas of polar desert by tundra, and areas of tundra by forest. The degradation of permafrost has complex consequences for trace gas dynamics. In areas of discontinuous permafrost, warming, will lead to a complete loss of the permafrost. Depending on local hydrological conditions this may in turn lead to a wetting or drying of the environment with subsequent implications for greenhouse gas fluxes. Overall, the complex interactions between processes contributing to feedbacks, variability over time and space in these processes, and insufficient data have generated considerable uncertainties in estimating the net effects of climate change on terrestrial feedbacks to the climate system. This uncertainty applies to magnitude, and even direction of some of the feedbacks