For more information on this new report, Russia-USA Cooperative Research
in the Lena-Laptev System, please contact:
Laboratory of Geochemistry of Polar Regions, Pacific Oceanological
Institute, Vladivostok Irina Pipko and Nina Savelieva at
arctic [at] online.marine.su
or International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Igor Semiletov at igorsm [at] iarc.uaf.edu
Russia-USA Cooperative Research in the Lena-Laptev System
Edited by Gunter Weller
Oceanographers from the Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of
Sciences explore the near-shore zone of the Russian Arctic.
The near-shore zone in the Siberian Arctic plays an important role in
the Arctic climate system. The most important issues are the transport
and fate of freshwater and terrestrial material, and their seasonal,
inter-annual and long-term variability.
However, the near-shore zone of the Arctic is considered as a missing
link in the understanding of the land-shelf system (ARCSS All-Hands
Meetings, Salt Lake City 2001 and Seattle 2002), because only limited
research has been done there. Earlier near-shore surveys by Tiksi
Hydromet (as well as others) were discontinued in early 1990s.
Since the summer of 1993, the Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far
Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (POI) has conducted complex
hydrological and biogeochemical research in the coastal zone of the
Laptev, East-Siberian, Chukchi seas, and the Anadyr Gulf of the Bering
Sea. Five oceanographic surveys were completed in the Laptev Sea, three
in the East-Siberian Sea, and two each in the Chukchi Sea and the Anadyr
Gulf of the Bering Sea.
The most detailed research has concentrated on the south-eastern part of
the Laptev Sea, and the western part of the East-Siberian Sea. More than
three hundred oceanographic stations were occupied there during
September of 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, using the Hydrographic vessels
DUNAY and NIKOLAI KOLOMEITSEV of the Tiksi Hydrographic Base (Tiksi
Hydrobase) and Headquarters of the Northern Sea Route Service.
In April-May 2002 the first oceanographic fast-ice survey in the Lena
River-Buor Khaya Gulf (Laptev Sea) was performed in cooperation with the
Tiksi Hydrobase using heavy tractors with heated laboratory and living
space on sledges and two arctic trucks. The transport and fate of the
Lena River water, and terrestrial material were investigated: STD,
currents, nutrients, pH, and dissolved oxygen were measured at each
station. Hydrochemical measurements were done just after sampling.
Samples of the bottom sediment and particulate matter were taken for
geochemical analyses. In total, twenty-five ice stations, sampling
through the ice, were done along the 1500 km route.
This research was organized in cooperation with the International Arctic
Research Center, and the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of
Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Financial support was obtained from the Russian
Foundation for Basic Research, Headquarters of the Far Eastern Branch of
Russian Academy of Sciences, and Pacific Oceanological Institute
(Federal Program "World Ocean"), and the International Arctic Research
Center.
Preliminary results of the wintertime expedition in 2002 will be
published in a special issue (4th volume) of the Proceedings of the
Arctic Regional Center (POI). Additional information can be obtained
from:
Irina Pipko and Nina Savelieva at arctic [at] online.marine.su
Laboratory of Geochemistry of Polar Regions, POI, Vladivostok
or Igor Semiletov at igorsm [at] iarc.uaf.edu
International Arctic Research Center, UAF, Fairbanks