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YOUTH.THE FUTURE OF REINDEER HERDING PEOPLES
Get PDFREINDEER have always been and remain the foundation of reindeer herding peoples’ lives. Reindeer provide people with shelter, food, clothing, security and are at the center of herding peoples’ universe, the foundation of their cultures, languages, worldviews and ways of knowing. Reindeer are also the foundation of reindeer herders’ economy. It goes without saying that reindeer herding youth are the future of reindeer peoples everywhere. Reindeer herding is an ancient livelihood practiced across the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions, areas that have recently become the intense focus of development and policy interests, and are predicted to experience dramatic climate shifts over the next decades. Young herders today face an uncertain future. Reindeer pastures are being lost wherever they are and the full range of consequences and impacts of climate change is unclear. The conditions under which they practice herding today will likely be very different by the time they are middle aged. What kind of herding will the coming generations of herders be able to practice? The goal of the EALLIN project is to bring the voice of reindeer herding youth to the Arctic Council: the good, the not so good and most importantly, what young herders want to see changed in order that they can bring their livelihoods into a future which the following generations will want to choose. This report is a summary of one of the deliverables to the Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group project ‘EALLIN – The Voice of Reindeer Herding Youth 2012-2015’. The main goal of the project was to maintain and further develop a sustainable and resilient reindeer husbandry in the Arctic, working towards a vision of creating a better life for circumpolar reindeer herders. The full report is available for download at eallin.org. Through this project, over 160 youth from different reindeer herding peoples had the opportunity to meet each other, learning maybe as much about themselves in the process as they learned from their peers. This report is co-produced by the participants of 12 community-based workshops in Norway, Sweden and Russia, China and Mongolia, where herding youth were both organizers and participants
Analysis of phosphorus forms in sediment cores from ephemeral ponds on Ardley Island, West Antarctica
Get PDFThe guano of penguins, other seabirds, and pinnipeds is an important source of phosphorus in the ecosystems of Antarctica. To study the vertical distribution of phosphorus in sediments influenced by penguins, we measured phosphorus forms in two sediment cores (G1 and Q2) from ephemeral ponds on Ardley Island. We also investigated the correlations between these phosphorus forms and physicochemical characteristics. Inorganic phosphorus was the main form of phosphorus in both cores. The vertical distribution patterns of phosphorus forms in G1 and Q2 differed, indicating different sedimentary sources. The G1
sediment profile was more influenced by penguin guano than the Q2 profile, and as a result sediments in the G1 core had higher total phosphorus, non-apatite inorganic phosphorus, and apatite phosphorus content. The findings from two ephemeral ponds on Ardley Island indicate that the contribution of penguin guano to organic matter in G1 core has increased in recent times, while Q2 showed a relatively larger contribution from mosses in ancient times, evident from the lithology and the vertical trend in organic matter
Recent Russian remote sensing investigations in Antarctica within the framework of scientific traverses
Get PDFThis paper includes a short historical review of Russian and Soviet scientific traverses to study the Antarctic inland. The first traverse left on April 2, 1956. It resulted in the opening of the first Russian inland research station named Pionerskaya and provided the first geophysical and glaciological data on regions inland of the Antarctic coast. By 1965, a number of regional inland scientific traverses had been completed and the first Atlas of Antarctica was published in 1966. The atlas presented the main achievements of that time. After the discovery of Lake Vostok, Russian scientists commenced remote sensing investigations to study this unique natural phenomenon. The propagation of acoustic and electromagnetic waves in the glacier near Vostok Station were measured to provide important geophysical data. Radio-echo sounding data showed that Lake Vostok is isolated and separated from the rest of the Antarctic subglacial hydrosphere. The total area of the lake is 15 790 km2, excluding 365 km2 occupied by 11 islands. Reflection seismic soundings of Lake Vostok estimated a total volume of about 6 100 km3, an average depth of about 400 m, and a maximum depth of 1 200 m. Since 2008, there have been a number of scientific traverses between Mirny and Vostok stations and between Progress and Vostok stations. The data collected during the traverses have provided new insights into sub-ice topography and ice sheet structure, and have led to the discovery of subglacial lakes near Komsomolskaya Station and under Pionerskaya Station
Ecological controls on biogeochemical fluxes in the western Antarctic Peninsula studied with an inverse foodweb model
Get PDFSea ice in the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) region is both highly variable and rapidly changing. In the Palmer Station region, the ice season duration has decreased by 92 d since 1978. The sea-ice changes affect ocean stratification and freshwater balance and in turn impact every component of the polar marine ecosystem. Long-term observations from the WAP nearshore and offshore regions show a pattern of chlorophyll (Chl) variability with three to five years of negative Chl anomalies interrupted by one or two years of positive anomalies (high and low Chl regimes). Both field observations and results from an inverse food-web model show that these high and low Chl regimes differed significantly from each other, with high primary productivity and net community production (NCP) and other rates associated with the high Chl years and low rates with low Chl years. Gross primary production rates (GPP) averaged 30 mmolC.m-2.d-1 in the low Chl years and 100 mmolC.m-2.d-1 in the high Chl years. Both large and small phytoplankton were more abundant and more productive in high Chl years than in low Chl years. Similarly, krill were more important as grazers in high Chl years, but did not differ from microzooplankton in high or low Chl years. Microzooplankton did not differ between high and low Chl years. Net community production differed significantly between high and low Chl years, but mobilized a similar proportion of GPP in both high and low Chl years. The composition of the NCP was uniform in high and low Chl years. These results emphasize the importance of microbial components in the WAP plankton
system and suggest that food webs dominated by small phytoplankton can have pathways that funnel production into NCP, and likely, export
Iodine speciation in aerosol particle samples collected over the sea between offshore China and the Arctic Ocean
Get PDFIodine species collected by an onboard PM10 particle sampling system during the Second Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (July–September 2003) were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and ion chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Iodine (I−) was detected in all samples over the Arctic Ocean, whereas additional iodine species including insoluble iodine, soluble organic iodine plus I− were detected over the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The results suggest that the main form of iodine is different within the Arctic Ocean than it is outside. Enrichment factor values showed moderate enrichment of iodine in the northwestern Pacific, whereas a high enrichment factor was found in polar regions, implying sources other than sea salt. A potential explanation was ascribed to the role of sea ice melt in the Arctic and rapid growth of algae in seawater, which enhances the production of iodocarbon and air sea exchange. This was confirmed by the larger values of total iodine in 2008 than in 2003, with greater sea ice melt in the former year. In comparison with earlier reports, ratios of iodate to iodide (IO3−/I−) were much smaller than 1.0. These ratios were also different from modeling results, implying more complicated cycles of atmospheric iodine than are presently understood
A new method of measuring optical turbulence of atmospheric surface layer at Antarctic Taishan Station with ultrasonic anemometer
Get PDFTo find the optimal location for large-aperture telescopes is a goal of astronomy. Chinese Antarctic astronomy has begun to flourish in recent years, and it is an urgent need in basic astronomical work to measure and analyze the optical turbulence spatiotemporal distribution in the Antarctic region. We analyzed turbulence data measured by a mobile atmospheric parameter measurement system from 30 December 2013 to 10 February 2014 at Antarctic Taishan Station. Because there is a discrepancy between the refractive index structure constant Cn2 measured by an ultrasonic anemometer with a single-point temperature structure function method and by micro-thermometer, a new method to measure Cn2 with a temperature spectrum method is proposed herein. Through comparing long-term continuous Cn2 data derived from ultrasonic anemometer with those via the new method and micro-thermometer, trend, magnitude and measured weak turbulence of ~2×10-16m 2/3 are generally satisfactory. The reason for the discrepancy in Cn2 measurement between the ultrasonic anemometer with the old method and micro-thermometer is investigated
The Arctic Herald
Get PDFThe information and analytical journal, published by the Russian Geographical Society, was first released in 2012 and "conceived as the platform for communication amonf the expert community, as well as all those engaged and interested in the problems of today's Arctic", as stated by Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, for the first number of the journal. "The journal is intended to assist in realization of one of the Russian priority in the region" -- he continues --- "its development as a zone of peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity for the benefit of all people living there"
Model simulations of the annual cycle of the landfast ice thickness in the East Siberian Sea
Get PDFThe annual cycle of the thickness and temperature of landfast sea ice in the East Siberian Sea has been examined using a one-dimensional thermodynamic model. The model was calibrated for the year August 2012–July 2013, forced using the data of the Russian weather station Kotel’ny Island and ECMWF reanalyses. Thermal growth and decay of ice were reproduced well, and the maximum annual ice thickness and breakup day became 1.64 m and the end of July. Oceanic heat flux was 2 W.m–2 in winter and raised to 25 W.m–2 in summer, albedo was 0.3–0.8 depending on the surface type (snow/ice and wet/dry). The model outcome showed sensitivity to the albedo, air temperature and oceanic heat flux. The modelled snow cover was less than 10 cm having a small influence on the ice thickness. In situ sea ice thickness in the East Siberian Sea is rarely available in publications. This study provides a method for quantitative ice thickness estimation by modelling. The result can be used as a proxy to understand the sea ice conditions on the Eurasian Arctic coast, which is important for shipping and high-resolution Arctic climate modelling
Atmospheric polychlorinated biphenyls measured during the 2008 Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition
Get PDFFrom July to September 2008, air samples were collected aboard the R/V XUE LONG icebreaker (Snow Dragon) as part of the 2008 Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition program. Σ20PCBs in the atmosphere ranged from 6.20 to 365 pg∙m−3 with average concentration 117±107 pg∙m−3. Congener profiles in all samples showed a prevalence of tri- and tetrachlorobiphenyls, dominated by PCB-18, PCB-28, PCB-44 and PCB-52. Along the cruise, the highest concentration was observed over the Sea of Japan and the lowest over the high-latitude Arctic Ocean. Air mass backward trajectories indicated that samples with relatively high levels of PCBs might have been influenced by atmospheric transport of these chemicals from primary and/ or secondary sources. PCB-18 displayed a significant correlation between vapor pressure and ambient temperature along the cruise, but there was no such correlation between gas-phase concentration and latitude. This suggests that atmospheric PCB-18 was related to volatilization from the earth surface during summer 2008, during which temperatures were relatively high. PCB-52 presented a significant correlation between gas-phase concentration and latitude, but no such correlation was found between vapor pressure and ambient temperature, indicating that atmospheric PCB-52 detected during the cruise might be attributed directly to atmospheric transport from source regions. In the Arctic, levels of PCB-52 in the floating sea ice region were higher than those measured in the open sea area and pack ice region. Intense ice retreat during summer 2008 might have enhanced the volatilization of previously accumulated PCBs from sea ice, especially those with heavier molecular weight and lower vapor pressure such as PCB-52