Chokurdakh, June 28, 2013

From Zurich (Switzerland) to Chokurdakh (Russian Federation) (Map: Google Earth).

 

 

The airplane (it seems it is still the same since the first Siberia expedition in 2008 and many years before) is said to be robust, and keeps on going since decades. For those avionic freaks amongst you, check out the details for this Antanov AN-24!

Loading the aircraft on the taxiway in Yakutsk is a ‘do it yourself’ job … (Photo: I. Juszak, June 2013).

 

 

Chrebet mountain range as seen from the air between Yakutsk and Chokurdakh (Photo: I. Juszak, June 2013).

 

 

Approaching Chokurdakh airport (IATA: CKH, ICAO: UESO), still 46 m above sea level (Photo: I. Juszak, June 2013).

 

 

At the airport grimy looking soldiers and airport officers kept me from taking pictures of the humpy air stripe or the firemen waiting in their  cars with running engines, just in case something would happen. In Chokurdakh we are the main attraction and luckily Ivan from Wladiwostok is here and translates what happens.

Unloading the baggage, again a DIY job (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, 2008).

 

 

Finally, arrival at the final air destination. Further travel is by boat to the test site in Kytalyk.

House in Chokurdakh (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, 2010).

 

 

Leaving Chokurdakh by boat on the Indigirka river (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, 2010).

 

 

We will be coming back to you once installed on the site. From now on, communication will be sparser, since we use a satellite phone with limited bandwidth to stay in contact.

Yakutsk, June 27, 2013

08.00 hrs (midnight in Zurich)
Today it is grey, windy and cold. We are ready for having breakfast, although still suffering from an awful jet-lag. Fruit, cheese, butter, yogurt … the table is full of all the luxurious things that we will miss in Kytalyk!

10.00hrs
We have to go to buy the last things before flying to Chokurdakh: batteries, life-vests, spikes … Raincoats, cameras, the shopping list and money, let’s go. We are glad to be able to go to the town to buy things, until we open the door: it’s raining cats and dogs!

“Tropical” storm effects in downtown Yakutsk (Photo: I. Juszak, June 2013)

 

The “roads” have turned to be rivers and the sidewalks and pedestrian crossings are lakes. It’s very difficult to walk along the muddy paths and in less than 10 minutes it feels like having a second skin (our trousers). But, at last, we manage to finalize all shopping without drowning. And the reward is a great lunch in a cafeteria. We are having a cup of tea and some unpronounceable little breads filled with different stuff: fish (type 1), fish and onions (type 2), fish (type 3), vegetables, rice and meat. I think I will love Sakha gastronomy.

14.15hrs
Inge and I are going to buy the heavy things listed on the shopping list. Our collaborators from the IBPC are helping us (thank you very much Stas and Sasha!). But first we arrange a group picture at the entrance of IBPC.

From left to right: Maitane Iturrate, Stas Ksenofontov, R. Shingubara, Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, A. Sugimoto, Inge Juszak, T. Morozumi , Wasia (our fantastic driver) (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, June 2013)

 

We go by one of their cars. This time the trip is a little bit less scary than the first one (from airport to the pension), but I don’t know if I will get used to the way of driving here. We stop at four different places. In-between one of the stops, we have a “technical” problem on the road: a bull is trying to cross the road on a roundabout. Seeing from the reaction of the driver, I assume that this is something quite common for them, but for me it is a bit surprising. A bull! We finish the shopping quite soon. Now everything is ready and we are ready for the evening, and the plan looks great: having dinner enjoying local gastronomy in a restaurant and, after that, a typical dancing spectacle as preparation for the summer festival that will take place during the weekend (and we will miss it because we will already be in Kytalyk!).

21.45hrs
The evening schedule has undergone a little change. We needed to wait so long for being served that the show is already over when we arrive. The fish soup was nice and the deer meat with vegetables and potatoes (“patatas bravas” style) was also good! We are walking through town and take pictures of typical buildings that are suffering from the consequences of being built on permafrost: the electrical installation, the water pipe system …

From left top to bottom right: Consequences of permafrost on traditional buildings and on road conditions, electrical installations, while walking under the aerial heating pipe system (Photos: M. Iturrate, June 2013)

 

22.45hrs.
The day has come to an end (well, sunset is at 23:15 PM, sunrise at 03:25 AM with almost continuous twilight …). Summarizing the day, we did three things: shop for essentials, eat and take pictures. Yakutsk leaves again lasting impressions: everything is so different to all I have seen before. It is incredible to see the problems that they have to deal with when infrastructure conservation is needed due to permafrost. The ambiance is also very much different: the light, the dust in the air, traffic, and so forth. All factors together make us feel like traveling through time: A very special experience not to miss!

Yakutsk, June 26, 2013

After months of preparation, of dealing with shipping, import and visa administration, meetings to rediscuss final field plans, buying mosquito-repellent clothes and attending a far from help course, the day has come. The forefront of the expedition – Maitane, Inge and Gabriela, are meeting at the airport in Zurich. Officials at the airport are very friendly, as soon as we tell about Siberia they are asking if we are gonna search for mammoth bones. No, but we want to find out if the vegetation is changing out there in the tundra, and whether this is impacting the permafrost. Permanently frozen soils, down to more than 300m, all year round, except for a small active thaw layer of about 30cm in summertime, from mid June to August.

We are flying to Moscow (3hrs), and late in the evening, on to Yakutsk (6hrs), the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), belonging to the Russian Federation. Yakutia covers an area almost as big as India, but has a population of almost a million people only, of which roughly 285’000 live in Yakutsk. The northern boundary of Yakutia is the Arctic Ocean, while extending 2500km southwards. Yakutia is very rich in natural resources. A legend tells that when god travelled through the world to distribute treasures, he suddenly stood still in Yakutia as he was overwhelmed by the beautiful landscape. When god stood still, all his treasures fell out of his bag. He got angry about it, however decided to leave the lost treasures there, but lock them in ice forever. With the large open-pit mine for diamonds in Mirny, Stalin apparently succeeded to lift the curse, but only by sacrificing many human lives. Maybe climate change will finally do the job in freeing the lost economic treasures. But it might come at the cost of a big loss – the loss of the unique tundra ecosystem.

Flight route from Zurich (A, ZRH) to Moscow (B, DME) and Yakutsk (C, YKS) (Map: Google Earth)

Arriving in Yakutsk

The flight to Yakutsk is impressive. We board at 23hrs local time in Moscow and fly through the night skies to Yakutsk, escorted by the light of the midnight sun, good to get used to the new daytime rhythm for the coming weeks!

On the way to Yakutsk (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, June 2013)

 

 

We fly over endless forests with alases (Алаас), shallow depressions formed by subsidence of the permafrost due to repeated melting and refreezing, many of them surrounded by dead trees.

Approaching Yakutsk airport (YKS) (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, June 2013)

 

 

Approaching Yakutsk at the bank of the famous Lena river is again a real spectacle from the air.

Without spending a single word we can always trust that our colleagues from IBPC SBRAS (Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science) are already waiting for us at the airport. It’s 11am now and we quickly transfer to our pension. Recently renovated, its Soviet Union touch remained. Eating a short bite and then off to the institute to discuss our shopping list for Kytalyk. Which batteries can we bring by plane to the field for the solar panels? Where can we get life-saving vests? Which other international groups are in the area this year? Finally we leave IBPC, with many plans and ideas for the coming days. We are tired and ready to sink into bed in our pension – not that they would have been replaced during the last renovation – but who cares – after being up for 32hrs we will get some sleep anyway.

Our hotel room at Xoлбос (Cholbos), close to the IBPC. (Photo: G. Schaepman-Strub, June 2013)

**********

Gabriela Schaepman-Strub – is responsible for the expedition. She has been to the research site 3 times already since 2008, collaborating with the Dutch colleagues Ko van Huissteden, Artem Budishchev, Monique Heijmans and Juul Limpens. Interested mainly in albedo and biodiversity changes and feedbacks to the atmosphere and the permafrost soil, but keen to get a better understanding of how these changes might impact the livelihood of local people in the North.

Inge Juszak – a PhD student in Gabrielas group since September 2012; first time in Siberia this summer to measure the radiation balance above the two major vegetation types in Kytalyk: dwarf-shrubs and sedges. She’s trying to understand the influence of these vegetation types on the energy balance of the soil and ultimately which type promotes permafrost thawing.

Maitane Iturrate – a PhD student in Gabriela’s group since January 2013; she’s staying in Siberia for seven weeks for the first time trying to characterize the research site in terms of biodiversity, so she’s really excited about “playing” with the little tundra plants. And, of course, if there is enough time, she wants to spend it knitting a wonderful long jacket made of alpaca and merino wool.

Welcome to the URPP GCB Eastern Siberia Expedition 2013

In 2013 we are visiting the Kytalyk area in eastern Siberia.

The goal of the Eastern Siberia Expedition 2013 is to assess global change drivers on biodiversity.

The expedition is embedded in the University of Zurich Research Priority Program on ‘Global Change and Biodiversity‘.

The expedition lasts from June 24 through August 18, 2013.

We are looking forward seeing you frequently visiting this site!

Gabriela Schaepman-Strub (expedition lead),
Trofim Maximov,
Maitane Iturrate,
Inge Juszak,
Stanislav Ksenofontov,
Pascal Niklaus,
Norman Backhaus, and
Michael Schaepman

A few links of interest

Status and Trends of Arctic Biodiversity – The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and the Arctic Council in partnership with UNEP GRID-Arendal is happy to present, “Status and Trends in Arctic Biodiversity”, a film inspired by the investigations of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment.

The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment

Arctic Vegetation Archive

The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Mapping Project

The Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone (IBPC), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science (SB RAS)

Photo: Kytalyk, G. Schaepman-Strub, 2012