Seida station. Photo by Christina Biasi.

 

Vorkuta/ Seida, is a secondary field site in PAGE21. It is located in the Eastern European tundra near the village of Seida, NW-Russia, and about 70 km away from city Vorkuta (67⁰07´N, 62⁰57´E, 100 m a.s.l.). The climate is subarctic, with a growing season of about 3 months, lasting from mid-late June from early-mid September. The site is located in the discontinuous permafrost zone in Komi Republic. Mean long-term annual temperatureis -5.6 ⁰C.

The area is characterized by various landcover and soil types, e.g. tundra heath, peat plateau, fens and lakes representing the typical mosaic-like southern tundra landscape. Peat plateaus, permafrost peatlands with thick peat deposits, are spotted by peat circles (bare peat) which have developed as a result of frost action. These peat circles have been recently identified as hotspots of the strong greenhouse gas N2O (Repo et al., 2009).

Soil, vegetation and flux measurements began in 2007 during the EU project CARBO-North, where the site was selected, and continued since then. University of Eastern Finland (UEF), which is coordinating research in Seida, is mostly focusing on the greenhouse gas dynamics (CO2, N2O, CH4). Detailed soil, vegetation and digital elevation maps as well as high-resolution satellite images are available. Since 2011 open top chambers (OTCs) are operating at the site simulating climate warming.

The village Seida is well connected with train, and field site is about 6 km away within walking distance. Between 10 and 15 people are usually staying for field work during the summer period.

• - CO2, N2O and CH4 exchange from dominant land cover types including peat circles (techniques: chamber techniques, eddy covariance for CO2 and N2O planned for 2013 onwards)
• - Meterological measurements including soil heat flux and radiation balance
• - Auxiliary soil and plant analysis (e.g. exchangeable nutrient pools, LAI, monitoring of soil temperatures and active layer depth)
• - Microbial analysis (including molecular markers)

 



For more information, please contact: Dr. Christina Biasi at the University of Eastern Finland, Department of Environmental Science, Biogeochemistry Research Group, PL 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio
Phone: +358 404 355 3810
Fax: +358 17 163750
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

A researcher team from the University of Eastern Finland stayed in Seida for the summer field season 2012. You can read their blog from the site in English in here.

 

Blog from Seida 2013 research expedition, written by Richard and Carolina from the University of Eastern Finland is available here.