Active-Layer Monitoring in the Cryolithozone Of West Siberia

Abstract

The Earth Cryosphere Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, conducts studies in West Siberia within the framework of the Circumpolar Active-Layer Monitoring (CALM) Program. This paper summarizes results from pre-CALM active-layer monitoring that began in the early 1970s using transects and grids. Sites employing CALM protocols were added to the program in the 1990s. Results obtained at the CALM sites and previously established grids and transects facilitate estimation of the main factors involved in active-layer dynamics in different landscapes of the tundra and taiga bioclimatic zones under climate fluctuations. We conclude that: (1) climatic trends are not evident in the tundra zone but are weakly discernible in the taiga zone; (2) active-layer fluctuations appear to follow climatic trends; (3) different landscapes respond in different ways to climate changes; and (4) atmospheric precipitation plays an important role in annual fluctuation of active-layer thickness.