International Symposium "Focus Siberian Permafrost" 24-25 March 2021 - Update
7 May 2021, by Olga Vybornova
Photo: Dr. Mikhail N. Grigoriev (Yedoma Ice-Complex, Laptev Sea, Siberia)
Permafrost is a large global carbon reservoir and its largest areas are located in Siberia. These areas store vast amounts of organic carbon, which is mostly locked up in the frozen ground. Due to recent climate change, the permafrost soils and sediments start to thaw, and microorganisms decompose the sequestered organic matter to carbon dioxide and methane. The rising release of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere may further amplify global warming.
From 24th to 25th March 2021, the international scientific symposium "Focus Siberian Permafrost - Terrestrial Cryosphere & Climate Change", primarily planned for spring 2020 and postponed due to the global spread of the coronavirus, took place as an online meeting. The complete coordination, planning and organization of this meeting was done by the Institute of Soil Science at the Universität Hamburg in cooperation with the partners at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Potsdam (AWI), the St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) and the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics Novosibirsk (IPGG SB RAS). The aim of this international symposium was to improve the knowledge of important processes in cold regions, focusing on the Siberian permafrost landscapes, which are still poorly investigated.
The event brought together modelling and observing permafrost scientists – totally, more than 140 participants from 12 countries took part (77 scientists from Germany, 42 scientists from Russia, 21 international scientists from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, USA, UK, Poland, Austria, France, China) - and contributed to a better understanding of the consequences of climatic and environmental changes in the high Arctic. In addition to lectures, an interactive panel discussion and a poster session, the event also included intensive breakout discussions between various participants. The “Focus Siberian Permafrost” with 52 oral and 28 poster presentations provided an opportunity to discuss broader topics like carbon transformation and greenhouse gas release, aggregation and degradation of permafrost landscapes, ecosystem dynamics, recent biogeochemical dynamics and future changes on permafrost ecosystems.
We are sure that this symposium has supported a better understanding of the carbon dynamics in the Siberian permafrost region, thereby improving our knowledge on the global carbon cycle as well as current and future greenhouse gas fluxes from changing permafrost landscapes in Russia. We enjoyed listening to the oral and poster presentations and relished the exchange with all participating scientist and permafrost-interested people.
Please see the program here for more information about the Symposium itself and also the Book of Abstracts published in “Reports on Polar and Marine Research” here.
For more information please visit our official KoPf (Kohlenstoff im Permafrost) website or contact Dr. Olga Vybornova (Olga.Vybornova"AT"uni-hamburg.de).