Mikhail Arshinov

Continuous measurements of methane from a tower network over Siberia

We have been conducting continuous measurements of Methane (sCH4) concentration from an expanding network of towers (JR-STATION: Japan–Russia Siberian Tall Tower Inland Observation Network) located in taiga, steppe and wetland biomes of Siberia since 2004. High daytime means (>2000 ppb) observed simultaneously at several towers during winter, together with in situ weather data and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, indicate that high pressure systems caused CH4 accumulation at subcontinental scale due to the widespread formation of an inversion layer. Daytime means sometimes exceeded 2000 ppb, particularly in the summer of 2007 when temperature and precipitation rates were anomalously high over West Siberia, which implies that CH4 emission from wetlands were exceptionally high in 2007. Many hot spots detected by MODIS in the summer of 2007 illustrate that the contribution of biomass burning also cannot be neglected. Daytime mean CH4 concentrations from the Siberian tower sites were generally higher than CH4 values reported at NOAA coastal sites in the same latitudinal zone, and the difference in concentrations between two sets of sites was reproduced with a coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian transport model. Simulations of emissions from different CH4 sources suggested that the major contributor to variation switched from wetlands during summer to fossil fuel during winter.

New Insights on the Chemical Composition of the Siberian Air Shed From The Yak-Aerosib Aircraft Campaigns

There are very few large-scale observations of the chemical composition of the Siberian airshed. The Airborne Extensive Regional Observations in Siberia (YAKAEROSIB) French–Russian research program aims to fill this gap by collecting repeated aircraft high-precision measurements of the vertical distribution of CO2, CO, O3, and aerosol size distribution in the Siberian troposphere on a transect of 4,000 km during campaigns lasting approximately one week. This manuscript gives an overview of the results from five campaigns executed in April 2006, September 2006, August 2007, and early and late July 2008. The dense set of CO2 vertical profiles, consisting of some 50 profiles in each campaign, is shown to constrain large-scale models of CO2 synoptic transport, in particular frontal transport processes. The observed seasonal cycle of CO2 in altitude reduces uncertainty on the seasonal covariance between vegetation fluxes and vertical mixing, known as the “seasonal rectifier effect.” Regarding carbon dioxide, w...

Annual variation of CH4 emissions from the middle taiga in West Siberian Lowland (2005–2009): a case of high CH4 flux and precipitation rate in the summer of 2007

ABSTRACT We described continuous measurements of CH4 and CO2 concentration obtained at two sites placed in the middle taiga, Karasevoe (KRS) and Demyanskoe (DEM), in West Siberian Lowland (WSL) from 2005 to 2009. Although both CH4 and CO2 accumulation (ΔCH4 and ΔCO2) during night-time at KRS in June and July 2007 showed an anomalously high concentration, higher ratios of ΔCH4/ΔCO2 compared with those in other years indicated that a considerably higher CH4 flux occurred relative to the CO2 flux. The daily CH4 flux calculated with the ratio of ΔCH4/ΔCO2 and terrestrial biosphere CO2 flux from an ecosystem model showed a maximum in July at the both sites. Although anomalously high flux was observed in June and July 2007 at KRS, only a small flux variation was observed at DEM. The high regional CH4 flux in June and July 2007 at KRS was reproduced using a process-based ecosystem model, Vegetation Integrative Simulator for Trace gases (VISIT), in response to high water table depth caused by the anomalously high precipitation during the summer of 2007.

Pan Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) - A research initiative meeting the grand challenges of the changing environment of the Northern Pan-Eurasian Arctic-Boreal areas

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) is a new multidisciplinary, global change research initiative focusing on understanding biosphere-ocean-cryosphere-climate interactions and feedbacks in Arctic and boreal regions in the Northern Eurasian geographical domain. PEEX operates in an integrative way and it aims at solving the major scientific and society relevant questions in many scales using tools from natural and social sciences and economics. The research agenda identifies the most urgent large scale research questions and topics of the land-atmosphere-aquatic-anthropogenic systems and interactions and feedbacks between the systems for the next decades. Furthermore PEEX actively develops and designs a coordinated and coherent ground station network from Europe via Siberia to China and the coastal line of the Arctic Ocean together with a PEEX-modeling platform. PEEX launches a program for educating the next generation of multidisciplinary researcher and technical experts. This expedites the utilization of the new scientific knowledge for producing a more reliable climate change scenarios in regional and global scales, and enables mitigation and adaptation planning of the Northern societies. PEEX gathers together leading European, Russian and Chinese research groups. With a bottom-up approach, over 40 institutes and universities have contributed the PEEX Science Plan from 18 countries. In 2014 the PEEX community prepared Science Plan and initiated conceptual design of the PEEX land-atmosphere observation network and modeling platform. Here we present the PEEX approach as a whole with the specific attention to research agenda and preliminary design of the PEEX research infrastructure.

Temporal characteristics of CH4 vertical profiles observed in the West Siberian Lowland over Surgut from 1993 to 2015 and Novosibirsk from 1997 to 2015

We have carried out monthly flask sampling using aircraft, in the altitude range of 0-7 km, over the boreal wetlands in Surgut (61°N, 73°E; since 1993) and a pine forest near Novosibirsk (55°N, 83°E; since 1997), both located in the West Siberian Lowland (WSL). The temporal variation of methane (CH4) concentrations at all altitudes at both sites exhibited an increasing trend with stagnation during 2000-2006 as observed globally from ground-based networks. In addition to a winter maximum as seen at other remote sites in northern mid to high latitudes, another seasonal maximum was also observed in summer, particularly in the lower altitudes over the WSL, which could be attributed to emissions from the wetlands. Our measurements suggest that the vertical gradient at Surgut has been decreasing; the mean CH4 difference between 5.5 km and 1.0 km changed from 64±5 ppb during 1995-1999 to 37±3 ppb during 2009-2013 (mean ± standard error). No clear decline in the CH4 vertical gradient appeared at Novosibirsk. Simulations using an atmospheric chemistry-transport model captured the observed decrease in the vertical CH4 gradient at Surgut when CH4 emissions from Europe decreased but increased from the regions south of Siberia, e.g., East and South Asia. At Novosibirsk, the influence of the European emissions was relatively small. Our results also suggest that the regional emissions around the WSL did not change significantly over the period of our observations.

Integrated monitoring of the atmospheric boundary layer dynamics by remote sensing methods in June 2015 in Tomsk

The dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer was observed at the IAO SB RAS experimental area in June 2015 with the use of remote sensing facilities: aerosol and Doppler lidars and Doppler sodar, temperature radiometer, radiozondes. The results of these combined observations are presented in the paper. The structure of the aerosol and wind fields in the period of convective mixing layer and frontal passage is shown. The appearance of internal gravity waves and low-level jet streams in the boundary layer is considered.

Some peculiarities of the vertical distribution of nanoparticles in the troposphere over West Siberia

Two typical profiles of nanoparticles were observed over the southern part of Western Siberia. The first type represents the well-known distribution that can be well described by the empirical equation proposed by Jaenicke. The second type of vertical profiles exhibits the so-called z-shaped structure with the secondary maximum in the free troposphere. Analysis of the data obtained in this study enabled us to estimate a new particle production rate in the free troposphere. The maximum production rate was in the 10-3-10-2 cm-3.s-1 range.

Temporal behavior of the concentration of fine and ultrafine aerosol in the surface atmospheric layer

Monitoring of the fine and ultrafine aerosol at the TOR station of Institute of Atmospheric Optics SB RAS allowed us to reveal some peculiarties in the diurnal behavior of aerosol with particle size x<0.2μm. Estimates of the generation rate of aerosols due to gas-to-particle conversion are presented.

Results of direct measurements of aerosol composition in emissions from several enterprises in Russia and Kazakhstan

These measurements have been carried out directly by sampling on filters in the emission plumes by means of airborne laboratory. Then filters have been analyzed in laboratory conditions. The analysis allowed the determination of the concentration of 12 ions and 27 elements. Average concentration of each emission component has been determined from known air volume passed through the filer. Wind speed has been measured at the crossing of the emission plume whose area is found from lidar data. This allows us to find the average concentration of contaminants in the emission as well as the emission gross yield. In this paper we present the data on the composition of emissions from enterprises of Pavlodar, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on- Amur, Nizhnevartovsk, and Nizhnii Tagil.

Use of an airborne laboratory as an integrated instrumentation complex for the investigation of emissions from industrial enterprises

Airborne laboratories are used for the estimation of the environmental state during several tens of years. However, the results obtained with such labs are incomplete, it follows from the analysis made. If the aircraft equipped with contact means, they provide information only on one or two ingredients, if remote systems are installed on it, then it is possible to acquire information on vertical profiles or spectral response of the underlying surface. Experience accumulated in IAO SB RAS during airborne sounding of cities and areas shows that if all measurement systems are combined into an integrated complex, then information on environmental state exhibits a new quality. At the same time some conditions should be achieved. First of all, the airborne laboratory should be equipped with contact as well as with remote devices which duplicate measurement of the same parameters. This allows to obtain more reliable data s well as to calibrate remote devices using contact data. Second, all measurement instruments should be combined into a united information system to make synchronous measurements. In this case data from different instruments complement each other. Third, all three media, i.e. soil, water, and air should be controlled by means of remote and contact means, that will essentially facilitate data interpretation.