Siberian Arctic black carbon: gas flaring and wildfire impact

As explained in the latest Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) report released in early 2021, the Arctic has warmed three times more quickly than the planet as a whole, and faster than previously thought. The Siberian Arctic is of great interest largely because observations are sparse or largely lacking. A research aerosol station has been developed on the Bely Island, Kara Sea, in Western Siberia. Measurements of equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations were carried out at the “Island Bely” station continuously from August 2019 to November 2020. The source origin of the measured EBC, and the main contributing sources were assessed using atmospheric transport modelling coupled with the most updated emission inventories for anthropogenic and biomass burning sources of BC. The obtained BC climatology for BC during the period of measurements showed a seasonal variation comprising the highest concentrations between December and April (60 ± 92 ng/m3) and the lowest between June and September (18 ± 72 ng/m3), typical of the Arctic Haze seasonality reported elsewhere. When air masses arrived at the station through the biggest oil and gas extraction regions of Kazakhstan, Volga-Ural, Komi, Nenets and Western Siberia, BC contribution from gas flaring dominated over domestic, industrial, and traffic sectors, ranging from 47 to 68 %, with a maximum contribution in January. When air was transported from Europe during the cold season, emissions from transportation became important. Accordingly, shipping emissions increased due to the touristic cruise activities and the ice retreat in summertime. Biomass burning (BB) played the biggest role between April and October, contributing 81 % at maximum in June. Long-range transport of BB aerosols appear to induce large variability to the Absorption Ångström Exponent (AAE) with values ranging from 1.2 to 1.4. As regards to the continental contribution to surface BC at the “Island Bely” station, Russian emissions dominated during the whole year, while European and Asian emissions contributed up to 20 % in the cold period. Quantification of several pollution episodes showed an increasing trend in surface concentrations and frequency during the cold period as the station is directly in the Siberian gateway of the highest anthropogenic pollution to the Russian Arctic.

Gymnocolea borealis (Anastrophyllaceae, Marchantiophyta) in Asia and Russia: morphology, ecology, distribution, and differentiation

Gymnocolea borealis is reported for the first time for Asia from Russia based on the morphological and subsequent molecular-genetic comparison of rbcL cpDNA sequence of the specimen from the Gydansky Peninsula, West Siberian Arctic. An extended morphological description, generalizing the species characters throughout its range, and data on its variation, differentiation and ecology, and photomicrographs are provided. The occurrence of G. borealis growing as separate shoots among dense mire vegetation makes it easy to overlook. Presently known isolated records of G. borealis support its disjunctive circumpolar distribution.

Marine Heatwaves in Siberian Arctic Seas and Adjacent Region

We used a satellite-derived global daily sea surface temperature (SST) dataset with resolution 0.25 × 0.25∘ to analyze interannual changes in the Arctic Shelf seas from 2000 to 2020 and to reveal extreme events in SST distribution. Results show that the second decade of the 21st century for the Siberian Arctic seas turned significantly warmer than the first decade, and the increase in SST in the Arctic seas could be considered in terms of marine heatwaves. Analyzing the spatial distribution of heatwaves and their characteristics, we showed that from 2018 to 2020, the surface warming extended to the northern deep-water region of the Laptev Sea 75∘ to 81∘N. To reveal the most important forcing for the northward extension of the marine heatwaves, we used three-dimensional numerical modeling of the Arctic Ocean based on a sea-ice and ocean model forced by the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis. The simulation of the Arctic Ocean variability from 2000 to 2020 showed marine heatwaves and their increasing intensity in the northern region of the Kara and Laptev seas, closely connected to the disappearance of ice cover. A series of numerical experiments on the sensitivity of the model showed that the main factors affecting the Arctic sea-ice loss and the formation of anomalous temperature north of the Siberian Arctic seas are equally the thermal and dynamic effects of the atmosphere. Numerical modeling allows us to examine the impact of other physical mechanisms as well. Among them were the state of the ocean and winter sea ice, the formation of fast ice polynias and riverine heat influx.

Walleye Pollock Gadus chalcogrammus, a Species with Continuous Range from the Norwegian Sea to Korea, Japan, and California: New Records from the Siberian Arctic

The first records of walleye pollock Gadus chalcogrammus Pallas, 1814 in the seas of the Siberian Arctic (the Laptev Sea, the Kara Sea, the southeastern Barents Sea), are documented. Information about the external morphology (morphometric and meristic characters), photos of sagittal otoliths and fish, and data on the sequences of the CO1 mtDNA gene are presented. The results of a comparative analysis indicate that walleye pollock caught in the Siberian Arctic do not differ in principle from North Pacific and North Atlantic individuals. Previous conclusions about the conspecificity of the walleye and Norwegian pollock Theragra finnmarchica are confirmed. New captures of walleye pollock in the Siberian Arctic allow us to formulate a hypothesis about its continuous species’ range from the coasts of Norway in the North Atlantic to the coasts of Korea, Japan, and California in the North Pacific. The few records of walleye pollock in the North Atlantic originate from the North Pacific due to the transport of early pelagic juveniles to the Arctic by currents through the Bering Strait and further active westward migrations of individuals which have switched to the bentho-pelagic mode of life.

Modern Siberian dog ancestry was shaped by several thousand years of Eurasian-wide trade and human dispersal

Dogs have been essential to life in the Siberian Arctic for over 9,500 y, and this tight link between people and dogs continues in Siberian communities. Although Arctic Siberian groups such as the Nenets received limited gene flow from neighboring groups, archaeological evidence suggests that metallurgy and new subsistence strategies emerged in Northwest Siberia around 2,000 y ago. It is unclear if the Siberian Arctic dog population was as continuous as the people of the region or if instead admixture occurred, possibly in relation to the influx of material culture from other parts of Eurasia. To address this question, we sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 20 ancient and historical Siberian and Eurasian Steppe dogs. Our analyses indicate that while Siberian dogs were genetically homogenous between 9,500 to 7,000 y ago, later introduction of dogs from the Eurasian Steppe and Europe led to substantial admixture. This is clearly the case in the Iamal-Nenets region (Northwestern Siberia) where dogs from the Iron Age period (∼2,000 y ago) possess substantially less ancestry related to European and Steppe dogs than dogs from the medieval period (∼1,000 y ago). Combined with findings of nonlocal materials recovered from these archaeological sites, including glass beads and metal items, these results indicate that Northwest Siberian communities were connected to a larger trade network through which they acquired genetically distinctive dogs from other regions. These exchanges were part of a series of major societal changes, including the rise of large-scale reindeer pastoralism ∼800 y ago.

Carbon Dioxide Flux at the Water–Air Boundary at the Continental Slope in the Kara Sea

The values and direction of carbon dioxide flux in the area of the continental slope in the north of the Kara Sea (St. Anna Trough) are calculated based on field studies in 2020 within the Siberian Arctic Sea Ecosystems program. The existence of a stable frontal zone in this area has been confirmed, which is formed by an alongslope current and limits the northward spread of surface waters freshened by the continental runoff. The simultaneous analysis of the carbonate system in the upper sea layer and the CO2 concentration in the surface air layer shows the CO2 flux with a rate of 0.2 to 22 mmol/m2 day to be directed from the atmosphere into the water in the area of the outer shelf, which is affected by the river runoff, and in the area of the continental slope, which is beyond this effect. The highest rates of CO2 absorption by the sea surface layer are localized above the continental slope. Local processes in the area of the slope frontal zone determine the CO2 emission into the atmosphere with a rate of 0.34 mmol/m2 day.

The Preliminary Analysis of Cave Lion Cubs Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) from the Permafrost of Siberia

A preliminary description is presented of the well-preserved frozen mummies of two cubs of the extinct cave lion Panthera spelaea (finds of 2017–2018, Semyuelyakh River, Yakutia, eastern Siberia, Russia). The fossil lion cubs were found in close proximity, but they do not belong to the same litter, since their radiocarbon ages differ: the female (named ‘Sparta’) was dated to 27,962 ± 109 uncal years BP, and the male (named ‘Boris’) was dated to 43,448 ± 389 uncal years BP. The lion cubs have similar individual ages, 1–2 months. The general tone of the colour of the fur coat of Sparta is greyish to light brown, whereas, in Boris, the fur is generally lighter, greyish yellowish. It is, therefore, possible that light colouration prevailed with age in cave lions and was adaptive for northern snow-covered landscapes. The article discusses the results of computed tomography of cubs of the cave lion, the possible reasons for their death, and the peculiarities of their existence in the Siberian Arctic.