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SITE NAME
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Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (812)3774189 // m_gavrilo@mail.ru; mashuka@aari.nw.ru // Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Beringa, 38, St.-Peterburg, 199397, Russia
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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10.08
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17.08
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
We made short-term visits on 10-17 August to the following localities on the archipelago: islands Golomyanny, Domashny, Smitdta, Zhuravleuva Bay and Sukhaya and Truba river valleys at the north of the Komsomolets Island, capes Massivny and Nekrasova on Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya Island. Aerial surveys and surveys from ships were conducted in adjacent areas of the Kara and Laptev seas.
According to the expedition report of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia (2008), the Arctic summer of 2007 was characterized by an atypical atmospheric circulation that led to steady transportation of air masses from the south and south-east over the Central and Eastern sectors of the Arctic. This resulted in a pronounced positive anomaly in air temperatures, an increase of sea surface temperatures to +5-7°C in the north of the Laptev Sea and farther east, and intensive breaking and rapid movement of sea-ice. The extent of sea ice in the Arctic basin was the lowest recorded for the last 100 years. The atmospheric processes resulted in unusually high frequency of fogs. The heaviest ice was recorded in the northern part of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago, in the vicinity of cape Arctichesky, while the situation in the Kara Sea was favourable, since heavy ice mostly concentrated in the north-eastern part of the sea. The sea-ice border-line passed near Schmidt Island and in the area of the Sedov Archipelago, offshore of the western Severnaya Zemlya. Ice broke in the channels of the archipelago, and disappeared in its western part. The Eastern Severozemelskaya polynia stretched along the eastern shore of the archipelago and was variable in size.
According to the data of the Golomyanny weather station, the Sedov Archipelago, July and the period from 1-20 August 2007 were relatively warm, without notable frost on Severnaya Zemlya. Air temperatures ranged from -1.0°C to +5.0°C in July, and the mean monthly air temperature (+1.1°C) was 0.4°C above the long term average (+0.7°C), and higher than in 2006. Mean daily temperature dropped to -0.4°C on 5 July, the coldest day of the month.
Air temperatures ranged from -1.9°C to +4.4°C in the first half of August, and mean daily temperature was +0.4°C for this period. An increased atmospheric pressure was associated with a relatively early decrease of temperatures at the end of summer in the region.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Mammalian predators, owls and birds of prey were not recorded. Pomarine and Arctic skuas were observed in small numbers, as singles and in flocks up to 10 birds, along the coasts. Glaucous Gulls bred on Sedov Archipelago, Komsomolets, Schmidta, and Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii islands. Numbers of Ivory Gulls were high on Domashny Island for the second year in a row, and they had high reproductive success. Successful breeding was observed also at northern Komsomolets Island, but breeding failed completely on Schmidt Island.
Brent Geese bred on the Sedov Archipelago and Schmidt Island. Few single Purple Sandpipers were observed on the south-western and eastern coasts of Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii Island. The scarcity of wader observations can be due to the late surveys.
Breeding conditions for seabirds seemed to be favourable in most places of Severnaya Zemlya in 2007.
A migration of waders in a general eastward direction was observed on 26-27 August when crossing the south-eastern part of the Laptev Sea on ship (78.7° N/134.6° E - 74.4° N/131.6° E). We recorded Curlew Sandpipers, Ruffs, small and medium-sized Calidris sandpipers, and Pluvialis plovers.
Surveys were carried out in the expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute "Arctika-2007" in a framework of the Russian program of the International Polar Year.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Collared Lemmings were not recorded during our landings on the coasts, although they occur at a low density on the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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