According to modern scientific forecasts, global climate change will lead to permafrost degradation in a significant part of the Russian Arctic by the second half of the 21st century. Permafrost thaw will cause massive deformation and destruction of fixed assets. The purpose of this research is to estimate the value of buildings and structures located in the Russian Arctic permafrost zone, an important

Holocene paleoenvironmental changes along the East Antarctic margin have been reconstructed using marine and lake sediment cores. Isolation basins in the coastal ice-free regions offer continuous sedimentary sequences to reconstruct marine-freshwater transitions and its environmental changes. In this study, we present the grain size (sand-silt-clay) and organic matter variations in a 51 cm radiocarbon-dated

Brattnevet Peninsula, Larsemann Hills, comprises metamorphosed acidic rocks, sedimentary rocks and basic igneous suite belonging to timespan of 920-478 Ma and have experienced three phases of deformation and metamorphism. The first and second phase of deformation gave rise to moderately plunging isoclinal and open to closed folds, respectively and the third phase resulted into broad warping. M1 prograde

Mineralogy of fine-grained matrix (FGM), fine-grained rim (FGR), chondrule rim, and altered mesostasis of a chondrule from the Asuka (A) 12169 CM3.0 chondrite was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), synchrotron radiation-based X-ray nano-tomography (SR-XCT), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SR-XCT and TEM observations revealed that both FGM and FGR contain

The Siberian taiga is the homeland and source of economic, spiritual and social well-being for many indigenous Evenki mobile and settled communities, while their land rights still remain unresolved. More than 9 million hectares of forest was burnt across six Siberian and Far East regions in the summer of 2019. Siberian wildfires have been used as a political resource by different political forces inside

Antarctic carbonaceous chondrite (CC) meteorite chip samples in the Japanese and US collections have been studied by an ultraviolet (UV), visible (Vis), and near-infrared (NIR) (UVVNIR) spectrometer and a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, targeting small areas of about 2–6 mm in diameter. UVVNIR and FTIR reflectance spectra of 169 spots on 148 CC chips were measured on their naturally

Fungi have been recognized as a prolific source of bioactive compounds with a wide spectrum of bioactivities, nevertheless, the information about marine polar fungi is scarce. Due to this fact, the purpose of this study was to investigate the antiproliferative activity and antioxidant capacity of the extracts of three fungal strains isolated from the White Sea (Coprinellus diseminatus, Simplicillium

Microcosm experiments were conducted to study the relative survival of two Escherichia coli strains in the Kongsfjorden water during 2017 Arctic summer. One of the E. coli strain was from the migratory bird Branta leucopis (Barnacle goose), to represent the allochthonous E. coli from migratory bird community, and the other strain was from the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), which is a native animal.

We recovered sedimentary and plutonic rocks from the off-ridge portion of the Southwest Indian Ridge (37°00.02ʹ E, 44°49.73ʹ S, 2165 m deep). The petrography, geochemistry, and geochronology of these plutonic rocks were analyzed. Ar–Ar dating of biotite in the plutonic rocks yielded early Paleozoic ages of approximately 475 and 490 Ma, indicating that these rocks are likely related to Antarctic orogenies

We investigated the transport and heat loss of the Pacific Summer Water (PSW) along the Chukchi Sea northern slope using the temperature, salinity, and velocity data of the mooring time series obtained in 2003–2005 (Period 1) and 2015–2019 (Period 2). The PSW at Stations HSN/NHC on the Chukchi Sea northern slope was warmer and fresher in Period 2 than in Period 1. Results from a lag correlation analysis

This article proposes the mapping of the concentration of sea ice in the oceanic region of the western Antarctic Peninsula using backscatter coefficients and textural features from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) C-band, horizontal single polarization (HH) images obtained by the Sentinel 1 A satellite sensor. Pure samples of open water and sea ice were obtained from SAR images with the aid of PlanetScope

Antarctic cryosphere has significant impact on the global climate system by influencing the ocean currents, the atmosphere, and the sea level for long term durations. Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has evolved from temporary to permanent ice sheet during Oligocene (∼32 Ma). Throughout its evolution, it witnessed severe climatic conditions leading to several phases of retreat and advancements. Major climatic

The fast receding sea-ice extent in the Arctic Ocean (AO) has implications for the global climate. Changes in the sea-ice dynamics cause variations in ocean physical and biogeochemical parameters. An ensemble of simulations from the ‘Community Earth System Model’ (CESM2-WACCM), part of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), is utilized for years 1850–2100. The regional

Interpretations of Rb–Sr and Sm–Nd data from the Grunehogna Granite demonstrate that anatexis of and mixing with Høgfonna Formation sedimentary rocks, caused by hot basic sills of ∼1100 Ma Borgmassivet Suite, are consistent, with the granite εNdεSr100Ma data, partially overlapping Borgmassivet Suite data and are marginally displaced toward published data from the Høgfonna Formation. Upper intercept

Accurate representation of the complex ocean-sea ice interaction is still an ongoing effort. In this study, we have coupled the Community Ice Code (CICE) model and Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to develop a high-resolution regional coupled ocean-sea ice model for polar regions. This setup allows us to investigate the interaction between ocean and sea ice in detail. The Coupled-Ocean-Atmosp

Relationship between Indian summer monsoon rainfall and Eurasian snow in the preceding seasons is studied extensively. However, the spatial structures of this snow-monsoon relation have rarely been investigated. The present study is aimed at diagnosing nature of observed linkage between Eurasian winter snow and spatial distribution of following summer monsoon rainfall over India. Eurasian snow association

We studied the concentrations, characteristics, ecological risk, and health risk of 12 probably carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in KGI soils of Antarctica. Measured concentrations of 12 PAHs ranged from 1.83 to 32.9 ng g−1 with an average of 11.9 ± 8.13 ng g−1. The assessment of ecological risks used methods that were based on total toxicity equivalency concentrations (TEQs) and

This Polar Science special issue, “SuperDARN/Studies of Geospace Dynamics - Today and Future,” originated from an international SuperDARN (Super Dual Auroral Radar Network) annual workshop held in Japan in June 2019, and is focused on studies of geospace dynamics particularly related to SuperDARN. Its purpose is to overview recent wide and active research, new scientific results and future perspectives

In this paper, echo occurrence rates for the Dome C East (DCE) and the new Dome C North (DCN) radars are studied. We report the ionospheric and ground scatter echo occurrence rates for selected periods around equinoxes and solstices in the final part of the solar cycle XXIV. The occurrence maps built in Altitude Adjusted Corrected Geomagnetic latitude and Magnetic Local Time coordinates show peculiar

Ice drilling systems with near-bottom hot water circulation can be used for many challenging scientific tasks in the study of ice sheets, glaciers, and subglacial environments. These systems melt ice using water jets heated directly at the bottom of the hole, thus eliminating the use of long heavy hoses and surface pumps. To investigate the influence of the drill tip shape and nozzle diameter on the

This study documents multi-proxy data representing surface water productivity and AMS 14C dates of box (BC3) and gravity (GC2) cores in the Central Basin of the northwestern Ross Sea. Based on AMS 14C dates, a comparison of sediment properties between BC3 and GC2 reveals that BC3 records the complete Holocene (i.e., interglacial) history, which is correlated to the uppermost part of GC2. The lithostratigraphic

The optical properties of aerosol particles must be clearly understood to reduce uncertainty in the prediction of the global climate change. Simultaneous measurements of scattering and absorption coefficients of aerosol particles were conducted in the atmospheric boundary layer over the western North Pacific and the Southern Ocean. For the scattering coefficient, total scattering and backscattering

Using the Expendable CTDs (XCTDs) collected along two transects between Africa and Antarctica during 1–11 January (Cape Town−Prydz Bay, track-2) and 12–21 April 2018 (Prydz Bay−Cape Town, track-1), frontal locations are delineated and compared with the satellite-based maps of absolute dynamic topography (MADT). The MADT maps revealed that the intensity of the Agulhas Current (AC) was 1.3 ms−1 during

This study aims at examining the following research questions: What has been the record of Russia's Arctic Council membership by the present-day moment? How has Russia's role evolved? What have been some of the main issues, agreements, disagreements, challenges and problems? What will Moscow's possible agenda be during a forthcoming Russian Council chairmanship in 2021–2023? The author argues that

In situ ozonesonde observations across nine Antarctic stations were used to validate the vertical profiles retrieved by the satellite-based Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument from 2004 to 2019. Intra-annual variations in the ozone concentration, along with the shape of the vertical profiles are well reproduced by the MLS with differences in the range of ±20%, although seasonally the differences

We conducted gravity observations in Antarctica at Jang Bogo Station (JBS) during the 2019–2020 Austral summer season using an FG5-210 absolute gravimeter (AG) and a LaCoste & Romberg (LCR) Model D-58 relative gravimeter. Absolute gravity measurements were successfully made at reference gravity point JBSAG1 and newly established gravity point JBSAG2, yielding about 19,000 and 14,400 drops of data,

Continuous long-term monitoring of black carbon (BC) mass concentrations and aerosol scattering coefficients (σSCA), supplemented by number size distribution and chemical composition, are utilized in this study to understand the temporal changes in the aerosol properties, associated source processes and radiative impacts at Ny-Ålesund (79oN) in the Svalbard Archipelago. We observed a statistically

Scientific results should contribute to society. To enable effective use of valuable results, scientists join the groups of communities or citizens and exchange knowledge and data about target subjects, especially subjects associated with environmental issues and a sustainable society. The symposium organizations or the academic society offer opportunities for exchanging knowledge, opinions, and data

Stratospheric ozone is a trace gas of great importance as it filters harmful ultraviolet radiations reaching the earth surface. Since ozone influences temperature and dynamics of the stratosphere, it is also a climate-relevant gas by influencing tropospheric temperature. Significant changes in the stratospheric ozone are, therefore, a concern for human health and climate. India has a dedicated polar

This paper presents a technique of ship route optimization in the Antarctic sea ice region using Dijkstra's algorithm. It studies some of the major parameters that cause resistance to the ship movement through sea ice. It aims to optimize a safe ship route in the Antarctic sea ice between Bharati and Maitri (Indian Research Stations in Antarctica) coasts. The study region is divided into grids that

Antarctica is one of the most effective sites to measure the impact of human isolation, sleep deprivation, light-dark period and harsh environmental conditions. In the present study we address several aspects of the activation and regulation of the complement system. Alterations in the body systems mainly related to immunology, physiology and psychology, during expeditions to the Antarctica, leads

The glacimarine processes in the Western Antarctic Peninsula have been intensified since the “Little Ice Age”. These have been recorded in the distribution and shape of glacial submarine landforms and glacial sub-bottom stratigraphy. In this study, the dominant factors of the past ice flow behaviour and glacimarine sedimentary processes in Börgen Bay, Anvers Island, are identified and analyzed. The

In order to understand the influence of summer conditions (extended daylight, warmer temperature, increased meltwater, increased suspended load and nutrient chemistry) on the distribution of phytoplankton (diatoms & flagellates) and picoplankton community in the surface waters off Svalbard, samples were collected from 6 locations around Svalbard onboard National Geographic Explorer vessel. Additionally

The trajectory of land surface wetness is one of the most consequential unknowns in the Arctic climate system. The present analysis is intended to (1) document seasonal and interannual variations of surface moisture fluxes, (2) clarify the drivers of P-ET variations among Arctic vegetative types, and (3) evaluate the effects of wildfire disturbance on ET. The analysis is based on field measurements

Boreal forests account for roughly one third of the carbon sequestered in terrestrial ecosystems, and the high-latitude boreal ecosystem they make up has been consequently vulnerable to recent climate change. This study investigated stem respiration of Alaska dominant black spruce trees in interior Alaska during the growing season of 2007. The continuous measurement of stem respiration was conducted

The Rayner Complex of East Antarctica and the Eastern Ghats Province (EGP) of India are thought to have been contiguous in past supercontinents like Rodinia and Gondwana. These terranes have been correlated on the basis of similar granulite facies metamorphic imprints and isotopic age data that testify to Grenvillian (1100-900 Ma) and Pan-African (650-450 Ma) thermal signatures. The Grenvillian granulite

An in situ measurement system was developed for continuous observations of the mole fractions of atmospheric oxygen (defined as δ(O2/N2)) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and the continuous observation was conducted onboard the research vessel SHIRASE 5003 during its voyage between Australia and Syowa Station, Antarctica, in 2017–2018. The CO2 variation was low with respect to that of δ(O2/N2) in the Southern

Antarctic continent comprises diverse ecosystems like snow, glacier ice, sea ice, melt pools, glacial soils, supraglacial and subglacial lakes that accommodate numerous microbial and algal communities. These biotic groups secrete matrices of biomacromolecules called Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs), which enhance their ability to withstand extreme environmental conditions. EPSs are mainly

Amidst changing seasonal snow-covered periods and extents in northern high latitude regions, winter CH4 oxidation is susceptible to drastic climate change, all of which modulates an accurate assessment of regional carbon balance. The importance of winter CH4 oxidation to the soils in these regions has previously been recognized; in this study, concentrations of CH4 and 222Rn were observed in the snowpack

The Sakha Republic is the largest region of the Russian Federation by territory. At the same time, it is also considered one of the most sparsely populated regions. Because of the Republic's size and relatively small population, the Russian government included the Republic in the Far-Eastern Hectare Law (FEHL) in 2016 in order to repopulate and render productive the region. According to this law, any

A national Arctic research project of “Japan's national project of Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS)” finished in March 2020. A special issue for ArCS was prepared to summarize performances of ArCS through fourteen invited articles that were reviewed activities and achievements of ArCS. In this Editorial, major facts and the structure of ArCS are shown. Also, each invited article is introduced

This research note describes how the Japanese five-year Arctic research program “Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS)” was implemented, focusing on its activities that supported the research, with a brief introduction of the background of Japan’s Arctic research. There were two shifts in the style of Japan’s Arctic research during the last 10–15 years: from small research projects by individual

The Arctic climate system is very sensitive to external perturbations, which results in more rapid surface air temperature (SAT) changes in the Arctic compared to lower latitudes. This study aims at assessing the performance of global climate models from the phases 5 and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6) in reproducing the periods of Arctic warming and cooling known from

We report the history and progress of the Japanese contribution to the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) project; especially focusing on the initial stage of SENSU (Syowa South and East HF Radars of NIPR for SUperDARN) project. The SENSU Syowa South HF radar operated by NIPR was one of the starting members of the initial SuperDARN radar operating at Syowa Station in Antarctica in 1995. It

Green spaces have recently received wide acknowledgement for urban sustainability benefits and are mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs Target 11.7. The article aims to address the knowledge gap on indicators used for assessment of green spaces for urban sustainability in the Arctic using an example of Nadym, Russia which is illustrative of compact cities built during the Soviet time

We have been operating remote high frequency (HF) wave receivers for the SuperDARN Hokkaido East radar in Nagoya (1092 km away from the radar) and Rikubetsu (a few tens of m away from the radar antenna) since 2014 to monitor the ionospheric environment and its changes. One receiver set consists of a USRP-N210 receiver unit, Ubuntu Linux PC and dipole/loop antenna. Using the remote receiver data it

We found a statistically significant relationship between the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and Antarctic sea ice concentration (SIC) in austral winter. SIC differences between the easterly phase of the QBO (EQBO) and westerly phase of the QBO (WQBO) show positive anomalies of SIC in the following regions: over the Ross Sea, Weddell Sea, and around 90°E. This wave-3 pattern is clearly

Understanding of the coastal waters of Antarctica is crucial in determining the ocean-ice system response to climate change. In this study, using hydrography observations we have provided the observational evidence of anomalous warming (>1 °C) in the Prydz Bay during austral summer. Even though the warming was centred at 68°S, 74°E, the presence of warmer waters were also noticed close to the Amery

Extreme microorganism has gained interest because of their special contribution to the environmental and industrial biotechnology, particularly psychrophilic microorganisms which can live and thrive at lower temperatures. They produce enzymes with great potential to adapt to extreme conditions. In this study, a novel psychrophilic bacterial strain designated as TaeBurcu001 grew (optimally at 5 °C)

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) play important roles in the survival of microorganisms existing in the cold environment. One of the several AFPs from an Arctic glacier bacterial strain which in our previous study showed thermal hysteresis (TH) and ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activities has been characterized partially in the present study. The cry-c AFP from the Svalbard Arctic cryoconite strain

Black Carbon (BC) absorbs the radiation and alters snow/ice albedo, which influences the Earth - Atmosphere radiation balance over the Arctic region. BC masses are estimated using Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-CHEM) over the Arctic region during the boreal winter and summer seasons of 2018. The meteorological parameters such as near surface temperature and relative humidity in

The Arctic is one of the regions where the effect of global change is most evident. Associated with warming are changes in snow, sea ice and hydroclimate, all which have significant impacts on environments and society. However, due to short observational records, it is difficult to set the current climate in a long-term context. Arctic driftwood (DW), available throughout the Holocene, is a paleoclimate

A total of 362 marine core samples from 200 meters below the sea-floor (mbsf) were examined through the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), Hole U1325B, Northern Cascadia Margin. The diversity parameters increased at ~200 mbsf during the Early Middle Pleistocene Transition (EMPT) period and gradually decreased towards ~165 mbsf. The diversity pattern is also notable, which projects the termination

The role of antennas in the detection of atmospheric conduction current has been discussed since the beginning of the 20th century. Propriety of the antenna design needs to be reviewed from time to time as the measurements experience different problems on various terrains. The present work deals with such issues and brings out a suitable antenna design to detect the conduction current observed at the

The maximum peak of the directional derivative of the SuperDARN convection flow has been proposed as a proxy for the open/closed magnetic field line boundary (OCB) and this has been evaluated using data from the ultraviolet imagers collected during the steady southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) condition. However, the technique ignores the contribution of ionospheric vorticity in determining

Recent changes in the near-surface air temperature (nSAT) in the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) suggests that the absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula may be coming to end. To examine this, the long-term annual and seasonal variability of the nSAT at eight Antarctic stations located in the AP are analyzed using available data from the SCAR Reader database, complemented with data from the

High-resolution data on spatial variations in the productivity of bryophytes and the mass of the organic layer are important components in geochemical models for northern forests. We investigated spatial variations in growth rates of the feather moss Hylocomium splendens and the thickness of the organic layer in relation to environmental factors on a north-facing slope in Interior Alaska. The forest

Ground surface elevation changes are closely linked to the dynamics of the active layer and near-surface permafrost. GNSS interferometric reflectometry (GNSS-IR), a technique utilizing reflected signals regarded as noise in the GNSS applications, such as positioning and navigation, can measure surface elevation changes in permafrost areas. In this study, we screen seven major open-data GNSS networks

The sediments of shallow marine waters and lakes around Antarctica provide valuable records of sea-level changes. Understanding the timing and amplitude of Antarctic Ice Sheet changes during the last deglaciation is essential to assess the effect of glacial isostatic adjustments on the present ice-sheet mass balance. However, the difficulty in accessing Antarctica makes it challenging to obtain field-based