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Interregional TC Project
“Assessing the Impact of Climate Change and its Effects on Soil and Water Resources in Polar and Mountain Regions”
INT5153
(2014-2017)
WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
______________________________________
GLOBAL CRYOSPHERE WATH (GCW)
Cryonet Asia Workshop
Salekhard, Russian Federation, 2-5 February 2016
Short description of
Aim of the INT5153 project
To improve the understanding of the impact of climate change on polar and mountainous ecosystems at the local and global scale for their better management and conservation.
Development of project started in 2011 and the project was initiated by the Russian Federation (RAS, LMSU and AARI) and Chile in June 2014.
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Expected outputs of INT5153 (1)
• Methodologies for monitoring in specific ecosystems.
• Interregional network of laboratories and institutions competent in the assessment of climate change impacts on the cryosphere and land-water-ecosystem quality, which use isotopic and nuclear techniques.
• Young scientists trained in the use of isotope and nuclear techniques to assess the impact of climate change on the cryosphere and land-water-ecosystem quality in polar and mountainous ecosystems.
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• Specific strategies to minimize the adverse effects of, and adapt to, reduced seasonal snow and glacier covered areas on land-water-ecosystem quality in polar and mountain regions across the world.
• Improved understanding of the effects of climate change disseminated through appropriate publications, policy briefs, and through a dedicated internet platform.
• A platform or database with global access for continuing work and monitoring of impact of climate change on polar and mountainous ecosystems at local and global scale, as well as for communicating findings to policy makers and communities.
Expected outputs of INT5153 (2)
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INT5153 participants Argentina Austria
Belgium
Bolivia Brazil
Canada
Chile China
Finland
Germany
Japan
Kyrgyzstan
Norway
Peru
Russian Federation
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Tanzania
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
23 countries
FAO/IAEA
IAEA
UNU
UNEP
EC
ICIMOD
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Benchmark Sites
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13 sites, in mountainous regions (polar-temperate-subtropical and tropical) with important role of cryosphere 2 in the Artic, and 1 in Western Antarctica
Benchmark Sites
• Representative of the major problems and trends of climate impact on cryosphere and land-water-ecosystem quality in polar and mountain regions across the world.
• Cold, temperate, subtropical and tropical ecosystems (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Polar regions)
• Truly representative, and logistically available: existing monitoring stations and accessible
• In all cases, analysis is carried out to indicate the potential of scaling out of the results at a national, regional and international level
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Reasons for the selection of the benchmark sites
• Gaps in information on impact of climate change on land-water-ecosystem quality
• Indications and/or evidence for impact of climate change on cryosphere
• Existing datasets • Existing facilities • Related projects
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INT5153 project conceptual model for polar and high mountain regions
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Research questions • (1) What is the impact of climate change on soil and soil organic carbon in polar &
mountainous regions?
Impact on terrestrial agro and ecosystems
Impact on climate change – cryosphere – land-water-ecosystem quality interactions
• (2) What is the impact of climate change on (i) water availability and (ii) soil-sediment redistribution processes in polar & mountainous regions?
Impact on landscape dynamics
Impact on climate change – cryosphere – land-water-ecosystem quality interactions
• (3) How is the cryosphere affected by long-term and current climate change?
Impact on cryosphere
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International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Example of question 2 (Sediment – Soil Movement)
Glacier Glacier
Slopes without protection
and loose materials in
front of the glacier (due to
glacier retreat)
Acceleration of
sediment transport
influencing lowlands
and water bodies
Origin of sediments, rate
of sediment production
and pathways
Stabilisation processes
Change in
T and P
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Example of question 3 (cryosphere and paleoclimate)
Glacier Glacier
Cryosphere dynamics (mass
balance, hydrothermal
regime of glaciers, etc.)
Paleoclimatic,
paleoenvironmental
records in benchmark
sites
Change in
T and P
Question 3 focuses on baseline / reference studies of cryosphere
dynamics with related projects and paleoclimatic recording
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2014 – 2015 Activities implemented
Project Design Meeting in June 2013
First Coordination Meeting in June 2014
Interregional Training Course in October 2014 (Advanced Use of FRN, SEIB)
Stakeholder meeting in Rauris in 2014 (Austria) (Cost-sharing Austria)
Protocol workshop in November 2014
First Patagonia and KGI expeditions in January-February 2015 (Cost-sharing Chile, Russia and Brazil)
First Svalbard expedition in July 2015 (incl. on-the-job training) (Cost-sharing Russia)
Stakeholder meeting for Kilimanjaro benchmark site in 2015 (Tanzania)
Stakeholder meeting for Tajikistan benchmark site in 2015 (France)
Information gap analysis (review of close to 800 „2000-2014“ papers)
Start of isotope and nuclear analysis
What do we do in Svalbard on Sediment-Soil Movement?
Glacier Glacier
Origin of sediments, rate of
sediment production and
pathways?
- FRN (Pb-210/Cs-137) and
ca 20 geochemical
fingerprints (Russia and
Spain) -120 kg
- 3D mapping (Germany) -75
% UAV and 10.000 hs
images
- Long-term screening of
sediment transport for
stabilisation processes
(Russia and UK) – further
improvement
Change in T
15 samples
Core of lake bottom sediments in 2016
(Russia) sedimentation rate (FRN /
paleoenvironmental reconstruction)
100 yr
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Svalbard, July 2015 - 127 kg of
sediment collected for FRN and
Geochemical fingerprinting
10m
Svalbard, July 2015 –
measurements of summer
ablation parameters; study of
quaternary deposits sections
King George Island (West
Antarctica), February 2015 –
sampling bottom sediments from
lakes for studying past climate
changes
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Uniqueness of the INT project
“Bringing a diversity of disciplines and state-of-the-art
isotope techniques together across regions to improve
the understanding of the impact of climate change on
cryosphere and land-water-ecosystem quality”
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International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Climate change
in polar, temperate,
subtropical and tropical
mountainous regions
Carbon Cycle Changes
Sediment redistribution from
highlands to lowlands affecting
water quality and quantity
INT Project
Changes in glacier-snow cover-
permafrost
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Carbon Cycle Changes
Sediment redistribution from
highlands to lowlands affecting
water quality and quantity
INT Project
Changes in glacier-snow cover-
permafrost
Emission of GHG due to T increase
and feedback mechanisms
Soil Organic Carbon Storage /
Soil Quality interactions
Sediment transport from
non-intervened highlands
to intervened lowlands
Driver for above processes?
Parameters
International Atomic Energy Agency Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
INT Project
Emission of GHG and
feedback mechanisms
Soil Organic Carbon Storage /
Soil Quality Interactions
Sediment transport from
non-intervened highlands
to intervened lowlands
Driver for above processes
Incubation under different T regimes for temperature
sensitivity and GHG emission, carbon origin (C-13) and
age (C-14)
Isotope and related Techniques
Characterisation linked with geochemical and
environmental parameters
Monitoring of sedimentation rates after glacier retreat,
sediment pathways and origin through the use of FRNs
(Pb-210 and Cs-137, back to 19th century) and ca 20
geochemical fingerprints; temporal sequence of
sediment transport; for different cryosphere settings
Remote Sensing survey of cryosphere dynamics
(glacier retreat-snow cover change), and ground
survey (baseline information; soil temperature)
Sediment cores for paleo-climatic construction
(baseline information)
Parameters
Example: Planned flow of samples and analyses (study of lake bottom sediments for paleoclimate reconstructions)
Each of 127 cm of sediment core (last 1 – 1,5 kyr)
Thank you for your attention!