Global warming will likely significantly transform Siberian environments. Early evidence indicates that carbon and hydrologic cycles are undergoing rapid change, with potentially grave impacts on ecosystems of both Yakutia and Siberia. Local population, which have adapted to great changes in social structure and environment in the past, will be forced to adapt again, but in this case to an unprecedented sequence of cascading environmental changes. All these problems require unfaltering watch and serious discussion at the highest scientific level.

For more than 20 years, the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone SB RAS in close conjunction with the Permafrost Institute SB RAS and other scientific institutions of Yakutia and with the support of many international scientific projects studies the impact of global climate change on nature of the north. These studies are conducted on scientific stations “Kytalyk” in tundra and “Kodak” in forest-tundra (Allaikhovsky District), “Elgeeyi” in a highly productive larch forest (Ust-Maysky District), and forest experimental station “Spasskaya Pad” (Central Yakutia) which marks the 60th anniversary of its founding this year.

All these stations are part of a global network of climatic and biogeochemical changes monitoring in the Northeast of Russia – SakhaFluxNet, which, in turn, is part of the international monitoring networks EuroFlux and AsiaFlux. By the number of created unique scientific stations and the amount of studied parameters, observation network SakhaFluxNet is ahead of many Russian regions and has no analogues. SakhaFluxNet scientific stations network covers the most important bioclimatic zones of permafrost – tundra, forest-tundra and forest; there is modern innovative scientific, communication, computer software and hardware, each station has comfortable conditions for work and residence of scientific staff. Today SakhaFluxNet network is rightfully considered to be continental and regional outpost in the monitoring of environment in the context of global climate change in the Yakut sector of permafrost.

Over the last decade, scientific workshops and conferences on the research of climate change and related transformations of northern ecosystems are conducted annually. The regular conference will be opened on October 8 at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) at 9:30 a.m. with a welcome speech of the projects’ directors on Japanese and Russian sides and will last for four days.

The conference and workshop will involve more than 90 participants, well-known scientists from the representative scientific and educational institutions, including the Institute of Biophysics RAS, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Institute of Plant Physiology RAS, Science and Technology Agency under the Government of Japan, Max Planck Institute (Germany), University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Tokyo, Nagoya and Hokkaido Universities (Japan).

Presentations will be made by prominent figures of both Russian and world science, including Doctor of Biological Sciences T. Maximov (Head of Biogeochemical Cycles of Permafrost Ecosystems Laboratory, Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone SB RAS, Director of International Research and Education Center BEST, director of 27 international projects on Russian side), Professor Tetsuzo Yasunari (Director of RIHN Project, Japan), Professor Tetsuya Hiyama (RIHN Project Leader, Japan), Professor S. Bartsev (Institute of Biophysics RAS, Russia), Professor, RAS corresponding member, Doctor of Biological Sciences N. Solomonov (Adviser to Director, Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone SB RAS, Russia), Professor Atsuko Sugimoto (University of Hokkaido, member of RIHN board, Japan), Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences P. Voronin (Head of the Laboratory, Institute of Plant Physiology RAS, Russia), Doctor of Historical Sciences S. Boyakova (Institute of the Humanities and the Indigenous Peoples of the North SB RAS, head of humanitarian direction of RIHN project on Russian side), Professor Shamil Maksyutov (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan) and others.

The conference will examine three aspects of climate-related environmental changes observed in project’s research. These are, firstly, current and likely future variations in climate and water and carbon cycles, ongoing field observations of the effects of carbon and hydrological regime variability on Eastern Siberian landscapes, and key changes or driving forces associated with these effects, as well as the distinct social processes in multi-ethnic society of Yakutia, its potential capabilities for adaptation to projected changes in climate and terrestrial ecosystems.

Key themes of the reports will be natural processes in ecosystems of permafrost and cold climate in Yakutia, the use of satellite technology and the development of carbon, water and energy cycles models, the vulnerability of landscapes and infrastructure in permafrost regions, the interaction between man and nature combined with climate change, and the state of research to date and plans for the future.

We would like to wish the conference and workshop participants fruitful work and successful scientific achievements.
A detailed schedule of these scientific events can be found on the website: http://ibpc.ysn.ru/konferenciya2.html

Ruslan SHAKHMATOV
Secretary for International Projects, IBPC SB RAS