Logistic Basis for Organizing Weekend Recreation for the Population of the Arkhangelsk Urban Agglomeration

Weekend rest is an important part of a person's recreational cycle. Northerners need a good rest to maintain their health. The choice of a place for vacation is associated with restrictions on the time of movement, since its period should not be longer than 2–3 days. The purpose of the research is to select the most suitable transport areas for residents of the Arkhangelsk urban agglomeration, taking into account the landscape and tourist resources. Based on the study of vehicles and the geographical location of tourist services, three sectors were identified, limited by five–hour transport accessibility from the cities of the Arkhangelsk agglomeration. The most promising for priority development is the southern sector, the centers of which can be the villages of Kholmogory and Emetsk. Excursion, relaxation, ecological and sports tourism can be offered there at any time of the year. The transit position of the main roads of the region gives this sector the advantages of attracting tourists from other regions. The western and eastern sectors have significant recreational potential, but their use is constrained by poor transport accessibility. The western sector with the center in the city of Onega is promising for the development of seaside relaxation tourism in summer and sports tourism in winter. The eastern sector with two centers in the villages of Pinega and Karpogory is promising for ecological, sports and excursion tourism throughout the year.

Field-scale CH₄ emission at a sub-arctic mire with heterogeneous permafrost thaw status

The Artic is exposed to faster temperature changes than most other areas on Earth. Constantly increasing temperature will lead to thawing permafrost and changes in the CH4 emissions from wetlands. One of the places exposed to those changes is the Abisko-Stordalen Mire in northern Sweden, where climate and vegetation studies have been conducted from the 1970s.In our study, we analyzed field-scale methane emissions measured by the eddy covariance method at Abisko-Stordalen Mire for three years (2014–2016). The site is a subarctic mire mosaic of palsas, thawing palsas, fully thawed fens, and open water bodies. A bimodal wind pattern prevalent at the site provides an ideal opportunity to measure mire patches with different permafrost statuses with one flux measurement system. The flux footprint for westerly winds is dominated by elevated palsa plateaus, while the footprint is almost equally distributed between palsas and thawing bog-like areas for easterly winds. As these patches are exposed to the same climatic conditions, we analyzed the differences in the responses of their methane emission for environmental parameters.The methane fluxes followed a similar annual cycle over the three study years, with a gentle rise during spring and a decrease during autumn and with no emission burst at either end of the ice-free season. The peak emission during the ice-free season differed significantly for the mire with two permafrost statuses: the palsa mire emitted 24 mg-CH4 m−2 d−1 and the thawing wet sector 56 mg-CH4 m−2 d−1. Factors controlling the methane emission were analyzed using generalized linear models. The main driver for methane fluxes was peat temperature for both wind sectors. Soil water content above the water table emerged as an explanatory variable for the three years for western sectors and the year 2016 in the eastern sector. Water table level showed a significant correlation with methane emission for the year 2016 as well. Gross primary production, however, did not show a significant correlation with methane emissions. Annual methane emissions were estimated based on four different gap-filing methods. The different methods generally resulted in very similar annual emissions. The mean annual emission based on all models was 4.2 ± 0.4 g-CH4 m−2 a−1 for western sector and 7.3 ± 0.7 g-CH4 m−2 a−1 for the eastern sector. The average annual emissions, derived from this data and a footprint climatology, were 3.6 ± 0.7 g-CH4 m−2 a−1 and 11 ± 2 g-CH4 m−2 a−1 for the palsa and thawing surfaces, respectively. Winter fluxes were relatively high, contributing 27–45 % to the annual emissions.

Geoinformation analysis of variability state of the natural environment after eruption of the Chikurachki volcano by remote sensing data

Explosive volcanic eruptions pose certain danger for natural environment, transport communications and other objects of human economic activity due to the fact that during such eruptions, up to several cubic kilometers of volcanic ash and aerosols can enter to atmosphere in long time. The research of extent of the impact of volcanic eruptions on surrounding area and the determination of their consequences contributes to reasonable assessment of volcanic hazard and possible risks in time conduct of economic activities and ensuring for safe location of settlements, enterprises, sea way and air lines. Chikurachki volcano is one from most active on territory of the Kuril Island Arc. In articles of volcanologists is information about eruptions in 1853–1859, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1973, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016. The vegetation index (NDVI) used as means of assessing state of the natural environment. The boundary dividing areas with disturbed and healthy vegetation cover taken along isoline with NDVI value of 0.4. Schematic maps of the dynamics of boundary isolines according for the vegetation index from 1972 to 2020 has been compiled. The dynamics of vegetation cover in the north-eastern, south-eastern and southern sectors relative to Chikurachki volcano is revealed. The north-eastern sector experienced strong negative impact of eruption of the Chikurachki volcano in 1853, at later (2007 and 2015) only ash falls were observed in this direction. The vegetation cover outside the isoline NDVI = 0.4 has almost completely recovered to 2020. The south-eastern sector damaged during eruption of 1986, and was also subject for periodic tephra precipitation and ash falls during 2002–2016. Vegetation was completely destroyed at distance of 9 km from the crater of the volcano, and also valley forests on Tukharka River were destroyed. In southern sector in upper part of the Vernadsky Ridge, harsh growing conditions do not allow vegetation to recover for decades. At the same time, on eastern and western slopes of the ridge, after eruptions with deposition of tephra by layer of small thickness, alder elfin restoration few years. The results of the recearch can be used in forecasting volcanic hazards and rapid assessment of impact on natural environment of territories adjacent to volcanoes of this type as a result of volcanic eruptions.