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Northeast Science Station of Cherskii, Russia

  • ️Melissa Chapin
  • ️Mon Dec 11 2006
  • Location: (69o N, 161o E) 150 km south of the Arctic Ocean on the mouth of the Kolyma River in Northeast Siberia.
  • Year-round base for international research in arctic biology, geophysics, and atmospheric physics.
  • Administration of Pleistocene Park, an experimental wildlife preserve of 160 km2 .


    • Publications of the Northeast Science Station

    Organization
        The Northeast Science Station was organized in 1989 by a group of young scientists from the Pacific Institute of Geography of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  It currently operates within the Nizhnekolymskii Ulus of the Republic of Sakha, Yakutia.
        Major funding for the station has been provided by the Soros Foundation, the Russian Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation of the United States of America.
     Facilities

    • Scientific equipment
      • The station has two laboratories and a network of field sites.
      • The major items of scientific equipment include the following:
        • Gas analysis: 2 gas chromatographs, 2 portable infrared gas analyzers [LiCor 6200], 4 high-resolution infrared gas analyzers [LiCor 6262], equipment for collecting gas samples for isotopic analysis, Dissolved oxygen analyzer [Hydrolab]
        • Chemical analysis: CHN analyzer, spectrophotometer, ph meters, electronic balances, glass-fiber filtration systems, distilled/dionized water supply, muffle furnace
        • Ecological field sampling: LiCor leaf area meter; soil corers; portable field balances; drills for ice, permafrost, and lake sediments; stream discharge meters; sample drying ovens
        • Meteorological data: air temperature, precipitation, wind speed
        • Eddy covariance measurements (3 sites): Gill sonic anemometers, Licor 6262 infrared gas analyzers (CO2, H20), Campbell data loggers (temperature, soil moisture, relative humidity, wind speed direction, atmospheric pressure), radiation sensor (net radiation, incoming and outgoing shortwave, incoming and outgoing longwave, photosynthetically active radiatio
      • Data analysis and communication: PC and MacIntosh computers, scanner, internet access
    •   Transportation
      • Cutter for transportation on rivers and the Arctic Ocean
      • Outboard motor boats
      • Hovercraft
      • Airplane (skis and floats)
      • Snow machines
      • Cars and vans (for transport along road system
      • All-terrain vehicles
      • Tank

       Accomodations

      • Fully equipped houses with sleeping accomodations for 12-14 persons
      • Two dormitories with sleeping accomodations for 5-6 persons each
      • Town of Cherskii located 3 km from station
      • Meals provided by arrangement
      Personnel
      • Sergei A. Zimov, Director
      • Sergei Davydov, Assistant Director
      • Galina Zimova, Administrative Assitant
      • Anna Davydova, Laboratory Technician
      Travel Arrangements

      Please contact the station for advice as to the best means of reaching the station.

      Research

      • Many international scientists have travelled to the station to study the Pleistocene deposits at Duvanyi Yar, and use the station as a basis of operations for geological and marine investigations along the coast of the Arctic Ocean.
      • Research at Pleistocene Park is investigating the causes of Pleistocene extinctions.
      • The Northeast Science Station is studying global carbon and methane fluxes.
      • In 2001-2003, a tri-partite study supported by the RAISE Project (Russian-American Initiativeof Shelf Environments) of the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation focused on impacts of disturbance on the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2 and the discharge of carbon and nitrogen into the Arctic Ocean.

      " Recent increases in the seasonal amplitude of atmospheric CO2 at high latitudes suggest a widespread biospheric response to high-latitude warming.  We have shown that the seasonal amplitude of net ecosystem carbon exchange by northern Siberian ecosystems is greater in disturbed than undisturbed sites, due to increased summer influx and increased winter efflux.  Net carbon gain in summer and respiration in winter were greater in a cool than in a warm year, especially in disturbed sites and did not differ between high-arctic and treeline sites, suggesting that high-latitude warming, if it occurred, would have little effect or would reduce seasonal amplitude of carbon exchange.  We suggest that increased disturbance contributes significantly to the amplified seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2 at high latitudes. "
      --------Present and Future Carbon Balance of Russia's Northern Ecosystems ,  DOE 1998 Progress Report
      F. Stuart Chapin, III and Sergei A. Zimov


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      Contact webpage editor: Mimi Chapin

      12/11/06