TOMSK, May
22 – RIA Tomsk. Employees of the "BioGeoClim" laboratory of Tomsk State University (TSU) made a documentary entitled "Dynamics of Landscapes
of a Typical Yamal Tundra" about natural changes in the Russian Arctic
that are occur due to global climate change, the university’s press service
said on Friday.
Earlier it
was reported that employees of the "BioGeoClim" laboratory, within
the framework of the grant supported by the Russian Science Foundation, are
studying the significance of climate change in the territories of the Arctic
and subarctic regions of Russia. Climatologists also study the contribution of
rivers and lakes in Western Siberia to global warming, the effects of permafrost
thawing, and other climatic phenomena.
"The
scientists of the TSU "BioGeoClim" laboratory made a film about how
landscapes of the Russian Arctic are changing. The main reason for these
processes – is the warming that began in the 80s of the last century and is
growing rapidly today. According to scientists, the transformation of
landscapes in the near future will have an increasing impact on the life of
indigenous peoples and the development of the natural resources of the Arctic",
– reports the press service.
It is added
that the "Dynamics of Landscapes of a Typical Yamal Tundra" film is
based on filming materials carried out by scientists during expeditions to the
North in the summer of 2019 and open-source satellite images of different
times. The starting point for the shooting was the village of Syo-Yaha, located
at the confluence of the eponymous river in the Gulf of Ob, which is called the
"Gateway of the Arctic."
It is
specified that the territory of the Arctic serves as an indicator of the
transformations occurring on the planet due to climate change, since the
landscapes of the North are changing extremely quickly. These changes are
reflected in the film.
"The
processes that take place in the Arctic are natural, but climate warming ...
accelerated them greatly. All this is amplified by an anthropogenic factor...
We found green oases in places where builders used to take sand for new
facilities. The broken permafrost began to melt and to give the soil elements
of mineral nutrition that were in deep layers. As a result, vegetation that was
not characteristic of the tundra appeared there", – the laboratory employee
Sergey Loyko is quoted.
Scientists
of the "BioGeoClim" laboratory suggest that 2020, with its abnormal
temperatures, will be a serious blow to permafrost. During the new field season
and the expedition to the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, TSU
researchers will test their hypothesis.