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Biological diversity is the basis for, and an indicator of biosphere integrity. Together with climate change, its loss is one of the two most important planetary boundaries. A halt in biodiversity loss is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current changes in biodiversity in the vast landmass of Siberia are at an initial stage of inventory, even though the Siberian environment is experiencing rapid climate change, weather extremes and transformation of land use and management. Biodiversity changes affect traditional land use by Indigenous People and multiple ecosystem services with implications for local and national economies. Here we review and analyse a large number of scientific publications, which are little known outside Russia, and we provide insights into Siberian biodiversity issues for the wider international research community. Case studies are presented on biodiversity changes for insect pests, fish, amphibians and reptiles, birds, mammals and steppe vegetation, and we discuss their causes and consequences. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-021-01570-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

VEPP-2000 is the only electron–positron collider with round beams. This factor enables one to increase the beam–beam effect limit. During the 2018–2019 season, the experimental program was focused on the energy range of 550–990 MeV per beam. Data accumulation was performed using CMD-3 and SND detectors. The measured luminosity integral proved to have a record value of 68 pb–1 per detector. After connecting to the BINP injection complex in 2016, the luminosity of VEPP-2000 is limited by the beam–beam effects in the entire energy range.

Mt. Munkhkhairkhan is the most crucial region for understanding climate and glaciation changes in Mongolia. This study investigated the relationship between glacial area changes and the climate elements of Mt. Munkhkhairkhan in the Mongolian-Altai Mountains using a remote sensing approach, in-situ observations, the Mann–Kendall (MK) test, Innovative Trend Analysis Method (ITAM), Sen’s slope estimator test, and statistical analysis. The study results showed that for the last 30 years, the annual average air temperature of Mt. Munkhkhairkhan has been slightly increasing. Total annual precipitation (mainly snow) in the mountain area decreased from 1990 to 2000, but since 2000, a significant increase in precipitation levels has appeared. For the last 30 years, the glacial area has decreased by 32% to 11.7 km2. Multiple regression results showed a strong correlation between Temperature, Precipitation, and Glaciers (Multiple R = 0.69, R2 = 0.48). Ruther indicated that Temperature (t = −2.332, p = 0.036) and Precipitation (t = −3.212, p = 0.007) were significant predictors in the model. Air temperature and precipitation explained 48 percent of the change in the glacier area, and R = 0.69 is a strong correlation. The glaciers and snow area in the study area have changed due to climate warming and precipitation changes and are located in arid and semi-arid regions of Central Asia. This study of Mt. Munkhairkhan shows that climate change significantly impacts glaciers and snow.

Wildfire is the most common disturbance type in boreal forests and can trigger significant changes in forest composition. Waterlogging in peatlands determines the degree of tree cover and the depth of the burning horizon associated with wildfires. However, interactions between peatland moisture, vegetation composition and flammability, and fire regime in forested peatland in Eurasia remain largely unexplored, despite their huge extent in boreal regions. To address this knowledge gap, we reconstructed the Holocene fire regime, vegetation composition, and peatland hydrology at two sites in Western Siberia near Tomsk Oblast, Russia. The palaeoecological records originate from forested peatland areas in predominantly light taiga (Pinus-Betula) with the increase in dark taiga communities (Pinus sibirica, Picea obovata, Abies sibirica) towards the east. We found that the past water level fluctuated between 8 and 30 cm below the peat surface. Wet peatland conditions promoted broadleaf trees (Betula), whereas dry peatland conditions favoured conifers and a greater forest density (dark-to-light-taiga ratio). The frequency and severity of fire increased with a declining water table that enhanced fuel dryness and flammability and at an intermediate forest density. We found that the probability of intensification in fire severity increased when the water level declined below 20 cm suggesting a tipping point in peatland hydrology at which wildfire regime intensifies. On a Holocene scale, we found two scenarios of moisture-vegetation-fire interactions. In the first, severe fires were recorded between 7.5 and 4.5 ka BP with lower water levels and an increased proportion of dark taiga and fire avoiders (Pinus sibirica at Rybanya and Abies sibirica at Ulukh Chayakh) mixed into the dominantly light taiga and fire-resister community of Pinus sylvestris. The second occurred over the last 1.5 ka and was associated with fluctuating water tables, a declining abundance of fire avoiders, and an expansion of fire invaders (Betula). These findings suggest that frequent high-severity fires can lead to compositional and structural changes in forests when trees fail to reach reproductive maturity between fire events or where extensive forest gaps limit seed dispersal. This study also shows prolonged periods of synchronous fire activity across the sites, particularly during the early to mid-Holocene, suggesting a regional imprint of centennial to millennial-scale Holocene climate variability on wildfire activity. Increasing human presence in the region of the Ulukh-Chayakh Mire near Teguldet over the last four centuries drastically enhanced ignitions compared to natural background levels. Frequent warm and dry spells predicted for the future in Siberia by climate change scenarios will enhance peatland drying and may convey a competitive advantage to conifer taxa. However, dry conditions, particularly a water table decline below the threshold of 20 cm, will probably exacerbate the frequency and severity of wildfire, disrupt conifers’ successional pathway and accelerate shifts towards more fire-adapted broadleaf tree cover. Furthermore, climate-disturbance-fire feedbacks will accelerate changes in the carbon balance of forested boreal peatlands and affect their overall future resilience to climate change.

This paper reports a current status of the measurements of the hadronic cross sections in the c.m. energy range from 0.32 to 2.0 GeV with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 electron-positron collider. The overall size of the data, acquired by the CMD-3 in the runs of 2010–2013 and 2017–2018 years, is about 160 pb−1. The results of data analysis for various exclusive modes of e + e − → h a d r o n s are described.

The Circumpolar North has been changing rapidly within the last decades, and the socioeconomic systems of the Eurasian Arctic and Siberia in particular have displayed the most dramatic changes. Here, anthropogenic drivers of environmental change such as migration and industrialization are added to climate-induced changes in the natural environment such as permafrost thawing and increased frequency of extreme events. Understanding and adapting to both types of changes are important to local and indigenous peoples in the Arctic and for the wider global community due to transboundary connectivity. As local and indigenous peoples, decision-makers and scientists perceive changes and impacts differently and often fail to communicate efficiently to respond to changes adequately, we convened a meeting of the three groups in Salekhard in 2017. The outcomes of the meeting include perceptions of how the three groups each perceive the main issues affecting health and well-being and recommendations for working together better. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-019-01277-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A study of hadron production at the nucleon-antinucleon threshold has been performed with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider. A very fast rise with about 1 MeV width has been observed in the $e^+e^- \to p\bar p$ cross section. A sharp drop in the $e^+e^- \to 3(\pi^+\pi^-)$ cross section has been confirmed and found to have a less than 2 MeV width, in agreement with the observed fast rise of the $e^+e^- \to p\bar p$ cross section. For the first time a similar sharp drop is demonstrated in the $e^+e^- \to K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ cross section. The behavior of the $e^+e^- \to 3(\pi^+\pi^-),~ K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ cross sections cannot be explained by an interference of any resonance amplitude with continuum, therefore this phenomenon cannot be due to a narrow near-threshold resonance. No such structure has been observed in the $e^+e^- \to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)$ cross section., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Boreal forests are among the ecosystems most significantly impacted by wildfires as a consequence of climate warming. A large proportion of the global boreal forest area is located in Siberia, however, its vast extent and restricted access limit datasets recording changes in wildfire activity, especially from a longer-term perspective. Such long-term records of wildfire activity are vital to understanding how fire regimes vary with changes in climate, vegetation composition and human-vegetation interaction, as well as the impacts of wildfires on boreal forests.Here, we explore how patterns in fire regime (biomass burned, fire frequency, fire type) have changed over the Holocene. We focus on the relationship between fire regime, forest density and the fire-related traits of the main tree species, and peatland hydrology. We used charcoal-morphologies based reconstructions of fire regimes, along with pollen-based assessments of vegetation composition and testate amoebae-based hydro-climate reconstructions in Pinus-Betula dominated peatlands from central-western Siberia, Tomsk Oblast, Russia.The occurrence of more severe fires (i.e., higher biomass burning per fire episode and abundant woody morphotypes) were recorded between 7500 and 5000 cal yr BP. Higher temperatures during that time, likely enhanced peatland dryness and fuel flammability creating conditions conducive to peat and forest fires. Drier peatland conditions also affected forest composition and density by favouring the expansion of a mix of light taiga and fire resisters (e.g., Pinus sylvestris, P. sibirica, Larix) with denser taiga and fire avoiders (Picea obovata and Abies sibirica) on the peatland. A shift to the lowest biomass burning and fire types affecting mostly litter and understorey vegetation, was registered between 4000 and 1500 cal yr BP. Temporally, it coincides with an increase in peatland surface moisture and a change in forest composition characterised by a decline in fire resisters, while fire avoiders remained abundant. An almost synchronous intensification in fires frequency and severity from ca. 2000 cal yr BP to the present at all sites, was concurrent with the rise to dominance of fire-invader species (Betula), as well as a more abundant biomass in the understory layer (shrubs, herbs, ferns, moss), while fire resisters and avoiders declined substantially. We found that Picea obovata to be highly vulnerable tree taxa to frequent, severe fires.This long-term perspective demonstratesthat peatland hydrology is connected to, and feedbacks on peatland and forest composition and fuel dryness and ultimately fire regime. It also shows that more frequent fires of higher severity can lead to compositional or structural changes of forests, if trees cannot reach reproductive ages prior to the next burning events. Future predicted increases in temperatures are likely to enhance peatland drying, with cascading effects on forest and peat plant composition, subsequently exacerbating wildfire activity. This study thus contributes to an understanding of disturbance regimes in boreal forests and considers their potential to adapt to new climate conditions and fire regimes.

Although interest in peatland environments, especially in terms of their carbon storage, has gained momentum in response to a heightened awareness of the climate emergency; significant gaps remain in the geographical coverage of our knowledge of mires, including some major wetland systems. This paucity has implications, not only for our understanding of their development and functioning, but also for adequately predicting future changes and thus providing effective mire environmental management. Our INTERACT-supported study provides radiometrically dated, well-characterised millennial scale peat records from two contrasting undisturbed and impacted (ditched) ombrotrophic sites in the Great Vasyugan Mire (GVM) near Tomsk, Siberia and two additional mesotrophic sites to the east of the Ob river. In addition, the geochemical record was complemented by multiproxy palaeoecological characterisation (pollen, charcoal, stable isotopes, testate amoeba). We identified both natural (lithogenic) and anthropogenic geochemical signals recording human impacts with site specific variations. Elevated trace element concentrations in the peat profiles align with the region’s wider agricultural and economic development following the colonisation of Siberia by Russia (from ca. 1600 AD) when pollen assemblages indicate the decline of forest cover and an increase in human disturbance, including the use for fire. Trace element concentrations peak with the subsequent, post WWII industrialisation of regional centres in southern Siberia (after 1950 AD). On a global scale, our sites, together with evidence from the few other comparable studies in the region, suggest that the region’s peatlands are relatively uncontaminated by human activities with a mean lead (Pb) level of < 5 mg/kg. However, via lithogenic elements including Rb, Ti and Zr, we detected both a geochemical signal as a result of historical land cover changes enhancing mineral dust deposition following disturbance, as well as fossil fuel derived pollutants as relatively elevated, subsurface As and Pb concentrations of ca. 10 and 25 mg/kg respectively with the development of industry in the region. Nevertheless, the potential significance of local factors on the sites’ geochemical profile is also highlighted. For example, we identify the effects of past peat drainage for afforestation (ca. 1960s) and the scheme’s subsequent abandonment. Although the region’s mire systems are remote and vast, they appear to hold a legacy of human activity that can be detected as a geochemical signal supporting the inferences of other palaeoenvironmental proxies. Such geochemical peat core records, from Eurasia in particular, remain relatively scarce in the international scientific literature and therefore, as yet, inadequately characterised and quantified compared to other regions.

In order to foresee possible changes in the elementary composition of Arctic river waters, complex studies with extensive spatial coverage, including gradients in climate and landscape parameters, are needed. Here, we used the unique position of the Ob River, draining through the vast partially frozen peatlands of the western Siberia Lowland and encompassing a sizable gradient of climate, permafrost, vegetation, soils and Quaternary deposits, to assess a snap-shot (8–23 July 2016) concentration of all major and trace elements in the main stem (~3000 km transect from the Tom River confluence in the south to Salekhard in the north) and its 11 tributaries. During the studied period, corresponding to the end of the spring flood-summer baseflow, there was a systematic decrease, from the south to the north, of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC), Specific Conductivity, Ca and some labile trace elements (Mo, W and U). In contrast, Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), Fe, P, divalent metals (Mn, Ni, Cu, Co and Pb) and low mobile trace elements (Y, Nb, REEs, Ti, Zr, Hf and Th) sizably increased their concentration northward. The observed latitudinal pattern in element concentrations can be explained by progressive disconnection of groundwaters from the main river and its tributaries due to a northward increase in the permafrost coverage. A northward increase in bog versus forest coverage and an increase in DOC and Fe export enhanced the mobilization of insoluble, low mobile elements which were present in organo-ferric colloids (1 kDa—0.45 µm), as confirmed by an in-situ dialysis size fractionation procedure. The chemical composition of the sampled mainstream and tributaries demonstrated significant (p &lt, 0.01) control of latitude of the sampling point, permafrost coverage, proportion of bogs, lakes and floodplain coverage and lacustrine and fluvio-glacial Quaternary deposits of the watershed. This impact was mostly pronounced on DOC, Fe, P, divalent metals (Mn, Co, Ni, Cu and Pb), Rb and low mobile lithogenic trace elements (Al, Ti, Cr, Y, Zr, Nb, REEs, Hf and Th). The pH and concentrations of soluble, highly mobile elements (DIC, SO4, Ca, Sr, Ba, Mo, Sb, W and U) positively correlated with the proportion of forest, loesses, eluvial, eolian, and fluvial Quaternary deposits on the watershed. Consistent with these correlations, a Principal Component Analysis demonstrated two main factors explaining the variability of major and trace element concentration in the Ob River main stem and tributaries. The DOC, Fe, divalent metals and trivalent and tetravalent trace elements were presumably controlled by a northward increase in permafrost, floodplain, bogs, lakes and lacustrine deposits on the watersheds. The DIC and labile alkaline-earth metals, oxyanions (Mo, Sb and W) and U were impacted by southward-dominating forest coverage, loesses and eluvial and fertile soils. Assuming that climate warming in the WSL will lead to a northward shift of the forest and permafrost boundaries, a “substituting space for time” approach predicts a future increase in the concentration of DIC and labile major and trace elements and a decrease of the transport of DOC and low soluble trace metals in the form of colloids in the main stem of the Ob River. Overall, seasonally-resolved transect studies of large riverine systems of western Siberia are needed to assess the hydrochemical response of this environmentally-important territory to on-going climate change.

Arctic sea-ice loss is emblematic of an amplified Arctic water cycle and has critical feedback implications for global climate. Stable isotopes (δ18O, δ2H, d-excess) are valuable tracers for constraining water cycle and climate processes through space and time. Yet, the paucity of well-resolved Arctic isotope data preclude an empirically derived understanding of the hydrologic changes occurring today, in the deep (geologic) past, and in the future. To address this knowledge gap, the Pan-Arctic Precipitation Isotope Network (PAPIN) was established in 2018 to coordinate precipitation sampling at 19 stations across key tundra, subarctic, maritime, and continental climate zones. Here, we present a first assessment of rainfall samples collected in summer 2018 (n = 281) and combine new isotope and meteorological data with sea ice observations, reanalysis data, and model simulations. Data collectively establish a summer Arctic Meteoric Water Line where δ2H = 7.6⋅δ18O–1.8 (r2 = 0.96, p < 0.01). Mean amount-weighted δ18O, δ2H, and d-excess values were −12.3, −93.5, and 4.9‰, respectively, with the lowest summer mean δ18O value observed in northwest Greenland (−19.9‰) and the highest in Iceland (−7.3‰). Southern Alaska recorded the lowest mean d-excess (−8.2%) and northern Russia the highest (9.9‰). We identify a range of δ18O-temperature coefficients from 0.31‰/°C (Alaska) to 0.93‰/°C (Russia). The steepest regression slopes (>0.75‰/°C) were observed at continental sites, while statistically significant temperature relations were generally absent at coastal stations. Model outputs indicate that 68% of the summer precipitating air masses were transported into the Arctic from mid-latitudes and were characterized by relatively high δ18O values. Yet 32% of precipitation events, characterized by lower δ18O and high d-excess values, derived from northerly air masses transported from the Arctic Ocean and/or its marginal seas, highlighting key emergent oceanic moisture sources as sea ice cover declines. Resolving these processes across broader spatial-temporal scales is an ongoing research priority, and will be key to quantifying the past, present, and future feedbacks of an amplified Arctic water cycle on the global climate system. © Copyright © 2021 Mellat, Bailey, Mustonen, Marttila, Klein, Gribanov, Bret-Harte, Chupakov, Divine, Else, Filippov, Hyöky, Jones, Kirpotin, Kroon, Markussen, Nielsen, Olsen, Paavola, Pokrovsky, Prokushkin, Rasch, Raundrup, Suominen, Syvänperä, Vignisson, Zarov and Welker. We gratefully acknowledge all participating PAPIN stations. Tarja T?rm?nen and Aino Erkinaro assisted with sample analysis at the Stable Isotope Laboratory, University of Oulu. Shawn Marriott, Patrick Duke and Polar Knowledge Canada are acknowledged for their support with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station. Sergey Serikov and Aleksandr Sokolov assisted with Russian precipitation sampling. The NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) is gratefully acknowledged for provision of the HYSPLIT transport model used in this study. NCEP/NCAR data were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory?s (ESRL) Physical Sciences Laboratory database. Funding. The Pan-Arctic Precipitation Isotope Network (PAPIN) received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 Project INTERACT, under Grant Agreement No.730938 (JW PI). An Academy of Finland Grant (316014-JW PI). Support was also provided by a University of the Arctic Research Chairship to JW that funded isotope analyses and provided postdoctoral support for HB and K-RM and postgraduate research support for MM. A Russian Science Foundation Grant (No. 18-11-00024) to KG funded isotope analyses. SK was thankful to Russian Science Foundation (No. 20-67-46018). Russian Foundation for Basic Research (BFBR) supported isotopic analyses conducted by AP (#18-05-60203-Arktika).

Wildfires in Siberia are documented to have increased in frequency and severity over recent decades. However, in the absence of long-term records, it is unclear how far and why this trend deviates from centennial to millennial scale variability. Here we reconstruct past patterns of fire frequency and fire type, and explore how the fire-related traits of boreal species and plant functional types (PFTs) determine ecosystem responses to changing fire regimes. We use charcoal-based reconstructions of the fire regime in combination with a pollen-based assessment of vegetation composition in two boreal forest peat profiles from Plotnikovo Mire in western Siberia that span the last 2400 and 5000 years. We found moderate levels of biomass burning between 5000 and 4000 cal yr BP. Biomass burning and fire severity i.e., more biomass burning per fire episode, increased over the last 1500 cal yr BP associated with the dominance of fire invaders (Betula). Conversely, between 4000 and 1500 cal yr BP lower biomass burning, with perhaps fire types affecting mostly litter and understorey vegetation, coincided with the dominance of fire resisters (e.g., Pinus sylvestris, P. sibirica, Larix) intermixed with a considerable number of fire avoiders (e.g., Abies sibirica and Picea obovata). This long-term perspective shows that the current fire regime commenced 1500 years ago and deviates from the trends observed over the last 5000 years. This deviation is linked to a combination of climate conditions conducive to fire, the amount and composition of woody fuels, and land use changes. Although pines reacted more sensitively to increased fire severity, the fire avoider Picea obovata appears to be much more vulnerable to both frequent, severe fires than Abies sibirica. We anticipate that climatically driven changes in fire weather, with frequent warm and dry spells, and anthropogenic land use intensification will heighten fire severity and their impact, driving vegetation composition towards Betula species to the detriment of Picea obovata. This study also shows that charcoal morphotypes can provide useful information on fuel and fire type, and that, although all macro-charcoal size classes reliably indicate local-scale fires, the larger fraction (>300–500 μm) allows the identification of on-site fire episodes. We recommend multi-site palaeo-fire reconstructions in boreal peatlands to adequately reflect the influence of localised peat moisture content, and vegetation composition and structure variability on the small-scale heterogeneity of fire type and spread. This will ensure that trends in fire regime dynamics are representative and not limited to the local scale. We also propose future directions in fire research that can be tested using fossil records of fire, climate and vegetation ideally in an interdisciplinary approach.

Detailed knowledge of the flood period of Arctic rivers remains one of the few factors impeding rigorous prediction of the effect of climate change on carbon and related element fluxes from the lan ...

Peatlands cover 3% of the land, occur in 169 countries, and have—by sequestering 600 Gt of carbon—cooled the global climate by 0.6 °C. After a general review about peatlands worldwide, this paper describes the importance of the Great Vasyugan Mire and presents suggestions about its protection and future research. The World’s largest peatland, the Great Vasyugan Mire in West-Siberia, forms the border between the Taiga and the Forest-Steppe biomes and harbours rare species and mire types and globally unique self-organizing patterns. Current oil and gas exploitation may arguably be largely phased out by 2050, which will pave the way for a stronger focus on the mire’s role in buffering climate change, maintaining ecosystem diversity, and providing other ecosystem services. Relevant new research lines will benefit from the extensive data sets that earlier studies have gathered for other purposes. Its globally unique character as the ‘largest life form on land’ qualifies the Great Vasyugan Mire in its entirety to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

Thermokarst lakes and ponds formed due to thawing of frozen peat in high-latitude lowlands are very dynamic and environmentally important aquatic systems that play a key role in controlling C emission to atmosphere and organic carbon (OC), nutrient, and metal lateral export to rivers and streams. However, despite the importance of thermokarst lakes in assessing biogeochemical functioning of permafrost peatlands in response to climate warming and permafrost thaw, spatial (lake size, permafrost zone) and temporal (seasonal) variations in thermokarst lake hydrochemistry remain very poorly studied. Here, we used unprecedented spatial coverage (isolated, sporadic, discontinuous, and continuous permafrost zone of the western Siberia Lowland) of 67 lakes ranging in size from 102 to 105 m&sup2, for sampling during three main hydrological periods of the year: spring flood, summer baseflow, and autumn time before ice-on. We demonstrate a systematic, all-season decrease in the concentration of dissolved OC (DOC) and an increase in SO4, N-NO3, and some metal (Mn, Co, Cu, Mo, Sr, U, Sb) concentration with an increase in lake surface area, depending on the type of the permafrost zone. These features are interpreted as a combination of (i) OC and organically bound metal leaching from peat at the lake shore, via abrasion and delivery of these compounds by suprapermafrost flow, and (ii) deep groundwater feeding of large lakes (especially visible in the continuous permafrost zone). Analyses of lake water chemical composition across the permafrost gradient allowed a first-order empirical prediction of lake hydrochemical changes in the case of climate warming and permafrost thaw, employing a substituting space for time scenario. The permafrost boundary shift northward may decrease the concentrations and pools of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), Li, B, Mg, K, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ni, Cu, As, Rb, Mo, Sr, Y, Zr, rare Earth elements (REEs), Th, and U by a factor of 2&ndash, 5 in the continuous permafrost zone, but increase the concentrations of CH4, DOC, NH4, Cd, Sb, and Pb by a factor of 2&ndash, 3. In contrast, the shift of the sporadic to isolated zone may produce a 2&ndash, 5-fold decrease in CH4, DOC, NH4, Al, P, Ti, Cr, Ni, Ga, Zr, Nb, Cs, REEs, Hf, Th, and U. The exact magnitude of this response will, however, be strongly seasonally dependent, with the largest effects observable during baseflow seasons.

The assessment of riverine fluxes of carbon, nutrients, and metals in surface waters of permafrost-affected regions is crucially important for constraining adequate models of ecosystem functioning under various climate change scenarios. In this regard, the largest permafrost peatland territory on the Earth, the Western Siberian Lowland (WSL) presents a unique opportunity of studying possible future changes in biogeochemical cycles because it lies within a south&ndash, north gradient of climate, vegetation, and permafrost that ranges from the permafrost-free boreal to the Arctic tundra with continuous permafrost at otherwise similar relief and bedrocks. By applying a &ldquo, substituting space for time&rdquo, scenario, the WSL south-north gradient may serve as a model for future changes due to permafrost boundary shift and climate warming. Here we measured export fluxes (yields) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), major cations, macro- and micro- nutrients, and trace elements in 32 rivers, draining the WSL across a latitudinal transect from the permafrost-free to the continuous permafrost zone. We aimed at quantifying the impact of climate warming (water temperature rise and permafrost boundary shift) on DOC, nutrient and metal in rivers using a &ldquo, approach. We demonstrate that, contrary to common expectations, the climate warming and permafrost thaw in the WSL will likely decrease the riverine export of organic C and many elements. Based on the latitudinal pattern of riverine export, in the case of a northward shift in the permafrost zones, the DOC, P, N, Si, Fe, divalent heavy metals, trivalent and tetravalent hydrolysates are likely to decrease the yields by a factor of 2&ndash, 5. The DIC, Ca, SO4, Sr, Ba, Mo, and U are likely to increase their yields by a factor of 2&ndash, 3. Moreover, B, Li, K, Rb, Cs, N-NO3, Mg, Zn, As, Sb, Rb, and Cs may be weakly affected by the permafrost boundary migration (change of yield by a factor of 1.5 to 2.0). We conclude that modeling of C and element cycle in the Arctic and subarctic should be region-specific and that neglecting huge areas of permafrost peatlands might produce sizeable bias in our predictions of climate change impact.

The VEPP-2000 electron–positron collider has been operating at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP) since 2010. Applying the concept of round colliding beams allowed the record value of the beam–beam parameter ξ ∼ 0.12 to be reached. The upgrading of the VEPP-2000 complex, including the connection to the new BINP Injection Complex and modification of the electron–position booster and the BEP–VEPP-2000 transfer channels to work at 1 GeV, resulted in a significant increase in luminosity. Work on statistical data collection using detectors is in progress.

The fate of the vast stocks of organic carbon stored in permafrost of the Western Siberian Lowland, the world's largest peat-land, is uncertain. Specifically, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions ...

The VEPP-2000 electron–positron collider has been operating at BINP since 2010. Applying the concept of round colliding beams allows us to reach the record value of the beam–beam parameter, ξ ~ 0.12. The VEPP-2000 upgrade, including the connection to the new BINP Injection Complex, the improvement of the BEP booster, and the BEP–VEPP-2000 transfer channels for operation at 1 GeV, substantially increases the installation luminosity. Data collection is in progress.

The mega-transect approach is a unique infrastructure which was developed in Tomsk State University for environmental monitoring and landscape-ecological research. The approach can be followed in all seasons, for field sampling, ground-based research on the field stations in combination with remote sensing and ecosystem manipulations. The mega-transect was established as a framework for the concept of Western Siberia as a natural mega-facility, a kind of natural equivalent to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, to attract leading international research groups. The paper describes cases of Russian Federation Federal target Programme and Siberian Inland Waters Joint Programming Initiative Climate EU Programme as examples of the large-scale international projects which are now resulting.

This paper reports measurements of the hadronic cross sections with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 electron-positron collider. The overall size of the data sample analyzed is about 60 pb-1, collected by the CMD- 3 running since December 2010 up to June 2013 in the c.m. energy range from 0.32 to 2.0 GeV. The preliminary results of data analysis for various modes of e + e − → hadrons are discussed.

Thawing of frozen peat in discontinuous permafrost zones may significantly modify the environment at local (slumps and engineering damages) and global (greenhouse gases regime) scales. We studied the aquatic geochemistry of CO2, CH4, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), P, Si, and colloidal trace metal from hollows, depressions, permafrost subsidences and soil waters in the actively thawing discontinuous permafrost zone of Western Siberia Lowland (WSL). This site of abrupt permafrost collapse is dominated by minerotrophic fens located within the flat mound peat bog. The CO2, DOC, major and trace metal concentrations decreased with the increase of the surface area of the water body, along the hydrological continuum (soil water → hollows → depressions and permafrost subsidences → thaw ponds → thermokarst lakes). Aqueous concentrations of CO2, CH4, Ca, Si, P, Al, Fe, Nd, and U were a factor of 4 to 10 higher in the site of catastrophic thaw compared to the steady thawing of a palsa peat bog that was previously studied in the same region. The colloids (1 kDa–0.45 μm) formed in hot spots were strongly enriched in Fe, Al, and trivalent and tetravalent hydrolysates relative to organic carbon. Because the increase in the thickness of the thawing depth intensifies the input of inorganic components from deep mineral horizons, abrupt permafrost thaw enriches the surface waters in Al-rich colloids and low molecular weight organic complexes. As a result, the WSL's surface water colloidal composition may shift from DOM-rich and DOM-Fe-rich to DOM-Al-rich, and the release of low-soluble trivalent and tetravalent hydrolysates from the soil to the river will increase. We hypothesize that in sites of abrupt permafrost thaw, there is direct mobilization of soil waters to a hydrological network (rivers and lakes) and there is minimal transformation by autochthonous processes, which is unlike the case of steady permafrost thawing. Therefore, the change in physical factors, such as water pathways and the water residence time, within a given elementary landscape will likely control the overall impact of on-going permafrost thaw on both the surface water chemistry and dissolved greenhouse gas pattern of the territory. For this, high-resolution (

The cross section of the process $e^+e^- \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\eta$ has been measured using a data sample of 21.8 pb$^{-1}$ collected with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider. 2769$\pm$95 signal events have been selected in the center-of-mass energy range 1394--2005 MeV. The production dynamics is dominated by the $\omega(782)\eta$ and $\phi(1020)\eta$ intermediate states in the lower energy range, and by the $a_0(980)\rho(770)$ intermediate state at higher energies., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables

We analyze the data on e + e − collisions at c.m.s. energies between 0.32 and 2 GeV collected in 2011–2013 with the CMD3 detector operating at the VEPP-3 e + e − collider of the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of nearly 60 pb-1. Preliminary results e + e − → K + K − nπ (n = 1, 2, 3) on the reactions with two charged kaons in the final state are presented, and the procedure for estimating the integrated luminosity for each energy setting is described.

Although wildfire events in Siberia have increased in frequency and intensity over recent decades, in the absence of long-term records, it is not clear how far this trend deviates from baseline conditions. Short-term datasets categorise the forest fire regime in Siberia as one of surface, litter fires alternating withdevastating crown fires, although there is significant variability within this region likely reflecting vegetation composition. However, a comprehensive understanding of how vegetation composition and properties determine fire regimes remains lacking. To address this question we used two peat records spanning the last 2500 yr and a 5000 yr, respectively of charcoal morphologies-derived fire regime, pollen-based vegetation dynamics and stable isotope and testate amoebae-based climate reconstructions from boreal forests in central western Siberia, combined with fire-related functional traits of key boreal tree species. Compared to the trend over the 5000 yr period (mean fire return interval=FRI of 400 yr), our reconstructed mean FRI of 145 yr for the last five centuries is notably the shortest in the record. Most fires in this area tend to be surface, litter fires, although over the last centuries surface fires show an increased trend towards crowning. Frequent fires between 5000 and 4000 cal yr BP and 1500 cal yr BP to the present were concurrent with the dominance of invader species (primarily Betula) and fire endurer (mainly herbs) with prevalence of resisters (Pinus sylvestris, Pinus sibirica). Longer fire return intervals (up to 500 yr) between 4000 and 1500 cal yr BP were associated with the dominance of fire resisters with a considerable proportion of fire avoiders (Abies sibirica and Picea obovata). The rising number of fire episodes and the intensification of fire events over the past 1500 years have likely promoted fire-adapted plant communities (invaders and endurers) that can rapidly reach maturity, contributing to the reduction of avoider and resister species. This trend demonstrates that fire avoider species particularly fail to regenerate if the intervals between fire episodes are too short and thatan increasing number of fire episodes can drive land cover towards more fire-adapted plant communities. Our long-term perspective shows that the current fire regime lies significantly outside baseline conditions, which may drive future change in forest composition towards an increased prevalence of invader species. This study also contributes to an understanding of disturbance regimes in Pinus-Betula forests and considers the potential of tree species to adapt to new fire regimes.

Interest in peatland environments, especially in terms of their carbon storage, has increased markedly in response to the heightened awareness of future, global climatic conditions. However, significant gaps remain in the spatial coverage of our knowledge of mires; including some major wetland systems. This paucity has implications, not only for our understanding of their origins, development and functioning, but also for adequately predicting future changes and providing scientifically based recommendations for mire environmental management. Our INTERACT-supported study provides a radiometrically dated, well-characterised millennial-scale peat record from two contrasting undisturbed and impacted (ditched) sites, respectively in the Great Vasyugan Mire (GVM) near Tomsk, Siberia, which is reputedly the largest peat system in the world. In addition to their palaeoecological characterisation, we identified both natural (lithogenic) and anthropogenic geochemical signals recording human impacts with site-specific variations. Elevated trace element concentrations in both peat profiles align with the time frame of the region’s wider agricultural and economic development with the annexation of Siberia by Russia (from ca. 1600 AD) when pollen assemblage characteristics suggest a decline in forest cover and an increase in herbaceous plants associated with human disturbance. Trace element concentrations peak with the subsequent industrialisation of centres around the Ob river (after ca. 1950 AD). On a global scale, our sites, together with evidence from the few other comparable studies in the region, suggest that the GVM is relatively uncontaminated by human activities with a mean lead (Pb) level of < 4 mg/kg. However, via lithogenic elements including Rb, Ti and Zr we detected both a geochemical signal as a result of historical land cover changes, which enhanced mineral dust deposition following disturbance, as well as fossil fuel derived pollutants, as relatively elevated, subsurface As and Pb concentrations of ca. 10 and 25 mg/kg respectively, with the development of industry in the region. Moreover, we identify the local effects of drainage for afforestation (ca. 1960s) on the peat profile. At the impacted site, which was ditched, but subsequently abandoned, the influence of arrested peat growth on the site’s geochemical depth profile highlights the potential significance of local factors. Although relatively remote and vast, the GVM appears to hold a legacy of human activity that can be detected as a geochemical signal supporting the inferences of other palaeoenvironmental proxies. Such geochemical peat core records, from Eurasia in particular, remain relatively scarce in the international scientific literature. Therefore, our study contributes to an understanding of a less well known and, as yet, inadequately characterised and quantified region.

The chemical composition of thermokarst lake ecosystem components is a crucial indicator of current climate change and permafrost thaw. Despite high importance of macrophytes in shallow permafrost thaw lakes for control of major and trace nutrients in lake water, the trace element (TE) partitioning between macrophytes and lake water and sediments in the permafrost regions remains virtually unknown. Here we sampled dominant macrophytes in thermokarst lakes of discontinuous and continuous permafrost zones in the Western Siberia Lowland (WSL) and measured major and trace elements in plant biomass, lake water, lake sediments and sediment porewater. All six plant species (Hippuris vulgaris L., Glyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmb., Comarum palustre L., Ranunculus spitzbergensis Hadac, Carex aquatilis Wahlenb s. str., Menyanthes trifoliata L.) sizably accumulated macronutrients (Na, Mg, Ca), micronutrients (B, Mo, Nu, Cu, Zn, Co) and toxicants (As, Cd). Accumulation of other trace elements, including rare earth elements (REE), in macrophytes relative to pore waters and sediments was highly variable among species. Using miltiparametric statistics, we described the behavior of ТЕ across two permafrost zones and identified several group of elements depending on their sources in the lake ecosystems and their affinity to sediments and macrophytes. Under future climate warming and shifting the permafrost border to the north, we anticipate an increasing uptake of heavy metals and lithogenic low mobile elements such as Ti, Al, Cr, As, Cu, Fe, Ni, Ga, Zr, and REEs by macrophytes in the discontinuous permafrost zone and Ba, Zn, Pb and Cd in the continuous permafrost zone. This may eventually diminish transport of metal micronutrients and geochemical tracers from soils to lakes and rivers and further to the Arctic Ocean.

The purpose of this work is to study the variability of the isotope composition (δ18О, δD, d exc) of the snow cover on a long transect of Western Siberia from the southern taiga to the tundra. The study of the snow cover is of paleogeographic, paleogeocryological, and paleohydrological value. The snow cover of western Siberia was sampled on a broadly NS transzonal profile from the environs of Tomsk (southern taiga zone) to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Ob (tundra zone) from February 19 to March 4, 2014. Snow samples were collected at 31 sites. Most of the samples represented by fresh snow, i.e., snow that had fallen a day before the moment of sampling were collected in two areas. In the area of Yamburg, the snow specimens collected from the surface are most probably settled snow of different ages. The values of δ18О in the snow from Tomsk to Yamburg varied from–21.89 to–32.82‰, and the values of δD, from–163.3 to–261.2‰. The value of deuterium excess was in the range of 4.06–19.53‰.

This work is supported in part by the Russian Education and by the Russian Foundation for Basic RFBR 14-02-00580-a, RFBR 14-02-91332, RFBR 15-02-05674-a and RFBR 16-02-00160-a.

Using a data sample of 7.7 pb − 1 collected with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 e + e − collider we select about 2900 events of the process e + e − → p p ¯ and measure its cross section at 12 energy points with about 6% systematic uncertainty. From the angular distribution of produced nucleons we obtain the ratio G E / G M .

Precise study of the hadrons production in \bm{e^+e^-}𝐞+𝐞− annihilation at low energies provides important information about interactions of light quarks and spectroscopy of their bound states. These studies are especially important for theoretical calculations of the muon \bm{(g-2)}(𝐠−2) via the Standard Model because of the present difference between theoretical and experimental values exceeds three standard deviations. In this report we will discuss current status and recent results obtained by the CMD-3 experiment and will give a brief look to status of the BaBar and Belle II experiments.

The present status of two operating BINP electron-positron colliders VEPP-2000 and VEPP-4M is given.

The studies on the moraine complex of the Maly Aktru glacier (Altai, Russia) revealed multidirectional correlations of microbial functional diversity and microorganisms population density depending on the temperature regime of their habitats on the moraines. The closer to the glacier, the bigger functional diversity of microorganisms and the less the density of their populations are. The decrease in the higher plants diversity and the projective cover of plant communities on the whole is linearly related to proximity to the glacier.

A brief review of the recent results on the hadronic cross section measurements with the CMD-3 detector at the e+e− collider VEPP-2000 is given. Focus is made on the processes with charged kaons in multihadron events, which have a strong impact on strange meson spectroscopy and form factors that are important ingredients in the Dalitz plot analysis. Experimental data relevant to the topic are presented from the broad energy range covered by VEPP-2000 and compared to earlier measurements by the different collaborations. The analysis is based on the integrated luminosity of about 100 pb−1 collected in 2011, 2012 and 2017.

The CMD-3 detector is installed at the VEPP-2000 e+e− collider at BINP (Novosibirsk, Russia). It is a general-purpose detector, equipped with a tracking system, two crystal (CSI and BGO) calorimeters, liquid Xe calorimeter, TOF and muon systems. The main goal of experiments at CMD-3 is a study of exclusive modes of e+e−→ hadrons at energies $ \sqrt s \le $ GeV. In particular, these results provide an important input for calculation of the hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The first round of data taking was performed in 2011–2013, when about 60 1/pb were taken in the center-of-mass (c.m.) energy range from 0.32 to 2.0 GeV. Here we present a survey of results of data analysis. Between 2013 and 2016 the collider and the detector were upgraded. The data taking resumed by the end of 2016. In the first run after the upgrade about 50 1/pb were collected at the energy range between 1.28 and 2.007 GeV. We discuss the upgrade and the first preliminary results from the new data.

A study of hadron production at the nucleon-antinucleon threshold has been performed with the CMD-3 detector at the VEPP-2000 e+e− collider. A very fast rise with an about 1 MeV width has been observed in the e+e−→ pp̅ cross section. A sharp drop in the e+ e−→ 3(π+π−) cross section has been con?rmed and found to have a width of less than 2 MeV, in agreement with the observed fast rise of the e+e−→ pp̅ cross section. For the ?rst time a similar sharp drop is demonstrated in the e+e−→ K+ K−π+π− cross section. The behavior of the e+e−→ 3(π+ π−), K+ K−π+π− cross sections cannot be explained by an interference of any resonance amplitude with continuum, therefore this phenomenon cannot be due to a narrow near-threshold resonance. No such structure has been observed in the e+e−→ 2(π+π−) cross section.

The flood zone of the Ob River, the largest (in watershed area) river of the Arctic Ocean basin, is tens of km wide and, after the Amazon's Varzea, is the world's second largest flooding territory. To better understand the biogeochemistry of the Ob River and adjacent surface waters, we studied, in May and July 2014, the dissolved and colloidal organic carbon and trace metals in small rivers, lakes, and flooded water bodies connected and disconnected with the mainstream as well as the Ob River itself. All major and trace elements were distributed among two major categories depending on their pattern of dependence on the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), Na, Mg, Ca, sulfate, Sr, Mo, Sb and U exhibited a general decrease in concentration with the increase of the [DOC]. The lowest concentration of these elements was observed in DOC-rich humic, acidic (4.9 ≤ pH ≤ 6.1) upland lakes fed by surrounding bogs. These elements marked the influence of underground feeding in July during summer baseflow, which was most visible in flood lakes in the Ob riparian zone and the Ob River itself. In May, the flood lakes were statistically similar to the Ob River. The elevated concentration of DOC (up to 60 mg/L) in the upland lakes was not correlated with groundwater-related elements, suggesting a lack of significant groundwater feeding in these lakes. In contrast, insoluble, usually low mobile elements (Al, Fe, other trivalent hydrolysates, Ti, Zr, Hf) and some metals (Cr, Zn, Ni, Pb) demonstrated a steady increase in concentration with increasing DOC, with the lowest values observed in the Ob River and the highest values observed in small tributaries and organic-rich upland lakes in July. It follows that these elements are limited by their main carriers – organic and organo-ferric colloids, rather than by the availability of the source, peat and mineral soil or plant litter. While for the majority of non-colloidal, groundwater-fed elements with high mobility (DIC, Na, Mg, Ca, K, Sr…) the small tributaries can be used as representatives of the Ob main stream, this is not the case for low mobility “insoluble” elements, such as Fe, Al, trivalent and tetravalent hydrolysates, and metal micronutrients (Cu, Zn, and Mn). The low soluble elements and divalent metals exhibited a much lower concentration in the river mainstream compared to that in the flood lakes, upland lakes and small rivers. This difference is significantly more pronounced in the baseflow in July compared to the spring flood in May. Presumably, autochthonous processes, such as the photo-oxidation and bio-oxidation of organo-ferric colloids and phytoplankton uptake are capable decreasing the concentration of these elements in the river mainstream.