Carbon dioxide is one of the main greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, and its largest flow from the surface of terrestrial ecosystems is soil respiration. To determine the rate of accumulation of this gas and develop measures to reduce the negative effects of the greenhouse effect, it is necessary to understand the amount of CO2 released by ecosystems into the atmosphere.
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As part of the tasks of the consortium, on May 14, 2024, researchers of the Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, senior researcher Osipov A. and research associate Kuznetsov M. began a new cycle of seasonal measurements of soil emissions at the Lyalsky test site. Due to the snow that fell in early May, scientists first searched for established grounds for measuring soil respiration of existing monitoring objects: sphagnum pine and mixed-herb-blueberry spruce. Subsequently, the foundations were laid for the installation of a gas analyzer and sensors that continuously record soil temperature at different depths at new monitoring facilities for CO2 emissions from the soil surface in blueberry aspen and sphagnum spruce.
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“This year, the spring was cold and protracted throughout the Komi Republic. Perhaps this is due to the postponement of the New Year holidays to May, but we and the Center for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Komi Republic believe that this is the influence of cyclones. Against the background of recent years, when stable summer temperatures were already established by mid-May, this spring with an abundance of May snowfall postponed the beginning of vegetation for several weeks, so we expect that these changes will affect the flow of carbon dioxide from the soil surface. Increasing the number of monitoring objects will make it possible to assess the removal of greenhouse gases and calculate the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere with CO2 emissions more correctly in order to use these data to simulate further climate changes,” – Andrey Osipov, Senior Researcher at the Department of the North Forest Biological Problems, said.
