Tomsk State University scientists are expanding their research on the world's largest swamp, recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. At the end of 2017, a new stationary base Vasyuganskaya was created under the auspices of the StrAU TSSW: Siberian Institute of the Future. It entered the megaprofile of TSU, a line of research stations connecting the south and north of Western Siberia.
- The Vasyugan Swamp is a unique object that performs an important biosphere function - it regulates global climate processes - says Sergei Vorobyov, a researcher at TSU’s Laboratory of Biogeochemical and Remote Sensing Methods for Environmental Monitoring. No other water body, exception the seas and oceans, has such a significant influence on the climate of our planet, so it is important to understand how this ecosystem functions.
Scientists plan to install basic automated stations on the new research site to monitor natural processes. The sensors will record standard climatic and biogeochemical indicators: atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, oxygen content, carbon dioxide content, soil temperature and humidity, and snow cover thickness.
The new equipment of TSU is designed for a comparative analysis of the information of the two largest ecosystems: the Vasyugan Swamp and the area of the permafrost island distribution in Western Siberia.
-The ecosystem of the world's largest swamp, Vasyugan Swamp, is the most stable in Western Siberia,- says Sergey Vorobyov. That's why this area needs a monitoring station that will allow assessing integrated, hardly noticeable global changes in the dynamics of natural processes.
Khanymey, another stationary base of TSU, is situated in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in the region of the island's distribution of permafrost. Landscapes of this area, on the contrary, are extremely unstable, they react very quickly to any, even the slightest changes in the environment.
The data obtained at the two stations in different climatic zones will enable scientists to carry out a comparative analysis, better understand the processes taking place in Siberia, and more accurately forecast the variants of their development.
In the near future, the University will have to resolve the issue of infrastructure and equip the laboratory. The new stationary base of TSU can become accessible to international scientists along with three stations of the University - Aktru, Kaybasovo, and Khanymey - that are involved in a large-scale international research and monitoring program in the Arctic - INTERACT 2.