Active Layer Dynamics Near Norilsk, Taimyr Peninsula, Russia

This paper provides information on active layer thickness (ALT) dynamics, or seasonal thawing above permafrost, from a Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) site near the city of Norilsk on the Taimyr Peninsula (north-central Siberia) and the influences of meteorological and landscape properties on these dynamics under a warming climate, from 2005 to 2020. The average ALT in loamy soils at this 1 ha CALM site over the past 16 years was 96 cm, higher than previous studies from 1980s conducted at the same location, which estimated ALT to be 80 cm. Increasing mean annual air temperatures in Norilsk correspond with the average ALT increasing trend of 1 cm/year for the observation period. Active layer development depends on summer thermal and precipitation regimes, time of snowmelt, micro-landscape conditions, the cryogenic structure (ice content) of soils, soil water content leading up to the freezing period, drainage, and other factors. Differences in ALT, within various micro landscape conditions can reach 200% in each of the observation periods.

New cryptogamic records. 8

First records of silica-scaled chrysophyte alga for the Leningrad Region and North-West of European Russia, fungi for the Pskov and Novosibirsk regions, and the Republic of Tuva, myxomycetes for the Republic of Belarus, lichens for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and West Siberia, liverworts for the Kurgan Region, mosses for the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania, the Taimyr Peninsula, the Chukotka Autonomous Area, and the Kamchatka Territory from the North Koryakia are presented. The data on their localities, habitats, distribution, and specimens are provided. The specimens are kept in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute RAS (LE), the Herbarium of M. G. Popov at the Central Siberian Botanical Garden RAS (NSK), or the Herbarium of the Kuprevich Institute of Experimental Botany NAS of Belarus (MSK-F).

Supplemental Material: Latest Permian–Triassic magmatism of the Taimyr Peninsula: New evidence for a connection to the Siberian Traps large igneous province

<div>Table S1: Results for the SIMS SHRIMP and LA–ICPMS U-Pb zircon analysis. Table S2: Ar–Ar analytical data for studied samples. Table S3: Rb–Sr, Sm-Nd isotopic data of studied samples. Table S4: Major and trace element analyses of studied samples with the coordinates of studied samples (WGS84 projection). Figure S1: BSE–CL images of zircon grains from the studied granites. Figure S2: Concordia and weighted average diagrams for studied granites. Figure S3: Ar–Ar spectra on biotite and amphibole for studied latest Permian–Triassic granites.<br></div>

Findings of new and rare lichen species of Eastern Siberia

The materials of the article contain data on the findings of 13 new species of lichens from Eastern Siberia. Among them, Rhizocarpon chioneum is the species new for Southern Siberia, Peltigera lyngei and Biatora pallens are two new species for the Central Siberian Plateau, six new species are new for the Taymyrskyi Biosphere Nature Reserve (Taimyr Peninsula), Leproplaca chrysodeta, Rhizocarpon chioneum, Rinodina terrestris are new species of lichens for the Republic of Buryatia. The world’s northernmost habitat for the species Bryoria nadvornikiana is reported from the Taimyr Peninsula. New localities for species Leptogium burnetiae, Leptogium hildenbrandii, Lobaria retigera, Lobaria pulmonaria, Nephromopsis laureri, Pyxine sorediata listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2008) are noted. New localities for the thirteen species included in the Red Data Books of the Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory are presented.

Russian Polar expedition and geopolitical interests at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries. Part 2. E.V. Toll’s expeditions and their geopolitical significance

Русская Полярная экспедиция (РПЭ) была важна с точки зрения геополитических интересов России: она имела широкий научный и общественный резонанс, находилась под Высочайшим покровительством президента Императорской Академии наук Великого князя Константина Константиновича. Оставшиеся в живых участники РПЭ и их последователи преодолели все сложности для того, чтобы спасти и сохранить геологические коллекции, собранные Э.В. Толлем на Таймыре и Новосибирских островах. Научные данные, полученные в ходе экспедиции, были столь значительны, что их обработка продолжалась вплоть до «дела Академии наук» (1929–1931 гг.) и ее реорганизации. Геологические образцы и некоторые документы Русской Полярной и других экспедиций с участием Э.В. Толля хранятся ныне в Рудно-петрографическом музее ИГЕМ РАН и доступны для дальнейших исследований. The Russian Polar Expedition (RPE) was important for Russian geopolitical interests: it had a broad social and academic resonance and was under the auspices of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, the President of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. The survived personnel of RPE and their followers managed to overcome the diffi culties to preserve the geological collections gathered by E.V. Toll at the Taimyr Peninsula and New Siberian Islands. The scientifi c results of the expedition were of paramount importance and were continuously studied and processes until the lawsuit of «The Plot at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR» was launched in 1929–1931, after which the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was reorganized. Geological samples and some documents of the Russian Arctic and other expeditions with the participation of E.V. Toll are now housed at the Ore and Petrographic Museum at IGEM RAS and are available for further studies.

New species of the genus Blattinopsis Giebel, 1867 (Insecta: Blattinopsida: Blattinopsidae) from the Permian of Taimyr Peninsula, Russia

Blattinopsis indefinitus Rasnitsyn et Aristov, sp. n. is described from the Lower Permian Fokina locality (the upper Burgukla subhorizont of the upper Kungurian Stage) in North-Western Siberia. It is the latest record of the genus Blattinopsis Giebel, 1867.

Continuous CO2 and CH4 Observations in the Coastal Arctic Atmosphere of the Western Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia: The First Results from a New Measurement Station in Dikson

Atmospheric observations of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the pan-Arctic domain are highly sporadic, limiting our understanding of carbon turnover in this climatically sensitive environment and the fate of enormous carbon reservoirs buried in permafrost. Particular gaps apply to the Arctic latitudes of Siberia, covered by the vast tundra ecosystems underlain by permafrost, where only few atmospheric sites are available. The paper presents the first results of continuous observations of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 dry mole fractions at a newly operated station “DIAMIS” (73.30° N, 80.31° E) deployed on the edge of the Dikson settlement on the western coast of the Taimyr Peninsula. Atmospheric mole fractions of CO2, CH4, and H2O are measured by a CRDS analyzer Picarro G2301-f, which is regularly calibrated against WMO-traceable gases. Meteorological records permit screening of trace gas series. Here, we give the scientific rationale of the site, describe the instrumental setup, analyze the local environments, examine the seasonal footprint, and show CO2 and CH4 fluctuations for the daytime mixed atmospheric layer that is representative over a vast Arctic domain (~500–1000 km), capturing both terrestrial and oceanic signals.

Response of Siberian trees to climatic changes over the past 1500 years

&lt;p&gt;We use an interdisciplinary approach combining stable isotopes in tree rings, pollen data, ice cores from temperature-limited environment in the Siberian north and developed a comprehensive description of the climatic changes over the past 1500 years. We found that the Climatic Optimum Period was warmer and drier compared to the Medieval one, but rather similar to the recent period. Our results indicate that the Medieval Warm period in the Taimyr Peninsula started earlier and was wetter compared to the northeastern part of Siberia (northeastern Yakutia). Summer precipitation reconstruction obtained from carbon isotopes in tree-ring cellulose from Taimyr Peninsula significantly correlated with the pollen data of the Lama Lake (Andreev et al. 2004) and oxygen isotopes of the ice core from Severnaya Zemlya (Opel et al. 2013) recording wetter climate conditions during the Medieval Warm period compared to the northeastern part of Siberia. Common large-scale climate variability was confirmed by significant relationship between oxygen isotope data in tree-ring cellulose from the Taimyr Peninsula and northeastern Yakutia, and oxygen isotope ice core data from Severnaya Zemlja during the Medieval Warm period and the recent one. Finally, we showed that the recent warming on the Taimyr Peninsula is not unprecedented in the Siberian north. Similar climate conditions were recorded by stable isotopes in tree rings, pollen, and ice core data 6000 years ago. On the northeastern part of Siberia newly developed a 1500-year summer vapor pressure deficit (VPD) reconstruction showed, that VPD increased recently, but does not yet exceed the maximum values reconstructed during the Medieval Warm period. The most humid conditions in the northeastern part of Siberia were recorded in the Early Medieval period and during the Little Ice Age. However, the increasing VPD under elevated air temperature in the last decades affects the hydrological regime of these sensitive ecosystems by greater evapotranspiration rates. Further VPD increase will significantly affect Siberian forests most likely leading to drought even under additional access of thawed permafrost water.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This work was supported by the FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008 - Marie Curie Action: &quot;International Incoming Fellowships&quot; 235122 and &quot;Reintegration Fellowships&quot; 909122 &amp;#8220;Climatic and environmental changes in the Eurasian Subarctic inferred from tree-ring and stable isotope chronologies for the past and recent periods&amp;#8221; and the Government of Krasnoyarsk Kray and Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Krasnoyarsk Foundation 20-44-240001 &amp;#8220;Adaptation of conifer forests on the north of the Krasnoyarsk region (Taimyr Peninsula) to climatic changes after extreme events over the past 1500 years&amp;#8220; awarded to Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova).&lt;/p&gt;