Vegetation Response on Climatic Changes in West-Siberian North Sergey - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Vegetation Response on Climatic Changes in West-Siberian North

Sergey Kirpotin1, Yury Polishchuk2, Oleg Pokrovsky3, Alexey Kouraev3, Natalia Bryksina2, Anna Sugaipova 2, Elena Zakharova3, Liudmila Shirokova4, Maria Kolmakova1,3, Rinat Manassypov1, Bernard Dupre3

1) Tomsk State University, 36, Lenina Pr., Tomsk, Russia, 634050, kirp@ums.tsu.ru 2) Ugra State University, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Yu_Polishchuk@ugrasu.ru 3) Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France, oleg@lmtg.obs-mip.fr 4) Institute of the Ecological Problems of the North, Arkhangelsk, RAS, liudmila@lmtg.obs-mip.fr

ENVIROMIS – 2010 Tomsk, Russia

Western Siberia is a unique mire region in the World

n About 104 Mha of Russian peatlands

are located in Western Siberia, which consists almost completely of pristine peatland ecosystems.

n The biggest at the World – Great

Vasiugan Mire (total area – 6.78 million hectare [Vaganov etc., 2005] is situated its territory. This unique mire representing the object of a nature of the world value, comparable on the importance and a rank with the lake

• Baikal. Stocks of peat deposited by

this largest bog pool in recalculation

• n absolutely dry organic substance

make almost 18 billion т, and it is not a lot of a little - 16,5 % of stocks of peat of all Western Siberia [Vaganov etc., 2005].

Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Ishim Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Tobol Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Pur Pur Pur Pur Pur Pur Pur Pur Pur Taz Taz Taz Taz Taz Taz Taz Taz Taz Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Nadym Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Yenisey Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Vasyugan Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Irtysh Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Ob' Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Altay Mountains Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Salekhard Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Ural Mountains Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Siberian Ridge Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Tomsk Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains Altai Mountains M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e M i d d l e S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n S i b e r i a n H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d H i g h l a n d

70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 70° E 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 60° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N 50° N

150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km 150 km

90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E 90° E

Permafrost type

Continuous permafrost Discontinuous permafrost Less than 5% permafrost Ob' inner w atershed Ob' w atershed Great Vasyugan Bog

Siberian peatlands have been a major sink of atmospheric carbon since the last deglaciation, but their precise role in the global carbon balance has not been quantified yet (photographer S. Kirpotin)

n Yefremov and Yefremova

(2001) estimated that in total 51.7 Pg carbon is stored in all Western Siberian peat. Smith et al. (2004) found a total of 70.2 Pg carbon (=70.2 billion tonnes) which is according to highest estimation about 26% of global terrestrial carbon.

Scheme of West-Siberian plain

Vegetation is the most sensitive and observable component of landscape

n

Vegetation is the most sensitive and observable component of landscape, respondent on climatic changes.

n

Study of climatic driven vegetation dynamics is one of the main tasks in joint French-Russian GDRI project “CAR-WET-SIB Biogeochemical cycle of carbon in wetlands of Western Siberia” which was started in 2007. Interdisciplinary approach of this project is based on combination of “terrestrial” (fieldwork), “spatial” (remote sensing) techniques and numerical modeling approaches on the same objects.

n

In particular the scientific research of the GDRI is focus on: investigation of dynamics of pristine and disturbed ecosystems in connection with past, present and future global climatic changes; application of existing satellite remote sensing and numerical modelling techniques, analytical observations, GIS technologies; their validation, parameterisation and development of new ones for studies and monitoring of environmental conditions of the chosen natural objects; analyses and modeling

• f vegetation pattern and biodiversity at

site, local and regional scales within a changing environment; development of mathematical and computer simulation

• f environmental and climatic dynamics.

Landslide permafrost melting in West Siberian cryolitozone

n Landslide permafrost melting in

West Siberian cryolitozone, which, according to our

• bservations, started at the

beginning of XXI century, notably changed patterns of vegetation cover: number of bog hollows and embryonic lakes were sufficiently increased as well as number of drained thaw lake basins (occupied by cotton- grass-sedge-sphagnum swamps) in the south part of permafrost zone and number of expanding lakes in its northern part.

Melting of the frozen mound bog edge

n At the same time, in

permafrost cryolithic zone

• f Western Siberia due to

an unprecedented melting

• f permafrost the methane

thread has increased, and the bogs of this region can turn from greenhouse gases sinks to a powerful source of their emission.

Methane bubbling from northern lake

Thermokarst processes increase methane emission, especially from yedomas (ice-rich Pleistocene soils with a high labile carbon content). Recent discovery of hot spots of methane emission (bubbling) in Siberian lakes is a strong evidence of this possibility [Walter et al., 2006].

n Methane bubbles in lake ice

• n the Siberian North (AP

Photo/Nature, Katey Walter)

Since 2004 thermokarst activity increased even more and new forms of it appeared (photographer S. Kirpotin, 2008)

n the rest of

melting frozen mounds surrounded by rings of water

Edges of the big (1 km) lakes (photographer S. Kirpotin, 2004)

Edges of the big (1 km) lake Shirokoe (photographer S.

Kirpotin, 2008)

Reindeer skeleton - “alive” witness of permafrost thawing

n 2004 n 2008 (the

same place)

Location of pilot territories in West-Siberian permafrost

Fragment of space images Landsat-7 (07.08.1999г.), central part of PT-5 Simbols: 1 – thermokarst lakes; 2 – dried lakes

Comparison of space images Landsat-1 (10.08.1973) and Spot-5 ( 20.07.2005)

a b c d

1973 (a) 1988 (b) 1993 (c) 2005 (d) 151 ha 27 ha 3 ha Landsat-1 (57m) Landsat-5 (30 m) Resurs -F2 (10 m) Spot-5 (5 m)

Consequent stages of decrease of lake 7 area

Thermokarst lake 7 areas (red) changes

The index of relative change of lake areas (%) during 36 years of observation at 24 pilot sites of Western Siberia versus geographical latitude. Normalized values of thermokarst lake areas changes depending on latitude.

n

The territory of Western Siberia, the climate of which is getting warmer more impetuously, than in other northern regions of the world, already suffers a significant social and economic damage, due to climatic changes: due to increase of soil instability accident rate at oil and gas pipelines has increased, exploitation period of Siberian traditional roads and ice crossing has decreased, negative shifts in the agricultural and wild plants development have taken place, traditional systems of life support of local people have changed, conditions of exploitation

• f residential infrastructure and

preservation of cultural heritage objects have worsened, sickness rate structure of population has changed.

n

Thus, for the world community Western Siberia is a unique ground, at the territory

• f which climatic changes and their

consequences are revealed most

• bviously, and is an ideal object for study

and discussion of these issues. In Western Siberia the processes which other countries may face in the nearest future have already been developing.

§ Pylons holding electric wires are being moved from tilting piles driven into the melting permafrost 30 years ago onto more stable horizontal concrete ties.

n We discovered and

described the tendencies

• f these processes at

qualitative level, but quantitative characteristics and their scale are still

• unknown. It is necessary

to say that an exceptional climate regulating function

• f Western Siberian forest

and bog complexes are not properly considered when making up global climate and carbon models.

Western Siberia special issue

n

Foreword Western Siberia special issue Sergey N. Kirpotin Pages 403 – 404 Glossary Pages 405 – 407 Western Siberia wetlands as indicator and regulator of climate change on the global scale Sergey N. Kirpotin; Alexandr Berezin; Vladimir Bazanov; Yury Polishchuk; Sergey Vorobiov; Nina Mironycheva-Tokoreva; Natalia Kosykh; Irina Volkova; Bernard Dupre; Oleg Pokrovsky; Alexei Kouraev; Elena Zakharova; Liudmila Shirokova; Nelly Mognard; Sylvain Biancamaria; Jerome Viers; Maria Kolmakova Pages 409 – 421 Abrupt changes of thermokarst lakes in Western Siberia: impacts of climatic warming on permafrost melting

• S. N. Kirpotin; Y. Polishchuk; N. Bryksina

Pages 423 – 431 Heterotrophic bacterio-plankton in thawed lakes of the northern part of Western Siberia controls the CO2 flux to the atmosphere

• L. S. Shirokova; O. S. Pokrovsky; S. N.

Kirpotin; B. Dupré Pages 433 – 445

n

The modern hydrological regime of the northern part of Western Siberia from in situ and satellite observations

• E. A. Zakharova; A. V. Kouraev; M. V.

Kolmakova; N. M. Mognard; V. A. Zemtsov;

• S. N. Kirpotin

Pages 447 – 463 Mountain mires of South Siberia: biological diversity and environmental functions Irina Volkova; Igor Volkov; Alla Kuznetsova Pages 465 – 472 The phytoindication method for mapping peatlands in the taiga zone of the West- Siberian Plain

• V. A. Bazanov; A. E. Berezin; O. G.

Savichev; A. A. Skugarev Pages 473 – 484 The carbon and macroelement budget in the bog ecosystems of the middle taiga in Western Siberia

• N. Kosykh; N. Mironycheva-Tokareva; E.

Parshina Pages 485 – 493 The agricultural pests of West Siberia in a changing climate Andrey Babenko Pages 495 – 501 The century-old mystery of the Tunguska meteorite Gennady Plekhanov Pages 503 – 516 Book Reviews Development Aid in Russia. Lessons from Siberia Andrey Babenko Page 517