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Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B1: Energy and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 10750

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Gleb Kraev

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Guest Editor

Yamal-Nenets Center of Arctic Research, 629007 Salekhard, Russia
Interests: permafrost; social-ecological systems; climate change adaptation; greenhouse gas; ecosystem services; methane; fluids migration
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Intensive exploration of the Arctic continues. Originally sparsely inhabited and still mostly intact lands and offshore areas are currently in the focus of the largest economies of the world. Issues of exploration of the natural resources in these remote areas are comparable to exploration of space by the level of investments and international cooperation. Challenges posed by the extreme conditions force humanity to develop innovative solutions in project design, infrastructure construction, industrial production, transport of natural goods, raw materials or products, and environmental and carbon footprint reduction in the Arctic.

This Special Issue will focus on but not be limited to the following topics:

- Alternative energies in the Arctic, including gas hydrates, shallow gas, and renewables;

- Climate change adaptation of communities and industries in the Arctic;

- Advances in climate change mitigation, including carbon capture and utilization, and nature-based solutions in high latitudes;

- Challenges of infrastructure stability and geohazards associated with permafrost degradation. Reduction of disaster risks associated with cryogenic landslides, coastal retreat, sea ice–construction interactions in the Arctic ocean;

- Industrial and communal wastes and pollution management in Arctic regions.

Case studies and reviews documenting successful and unsuccessful practices of improvement of interactions in social–ecological and industrial systems located in the Arctic will be considered.

Dr. Gleb Kraev
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

permafrost
social-ecological systems in the Arctic
climate change adaptation
greenhouse gases emission reduction
infrastructure stability
gas-hydrates and alternative energies in the Arctic
waste management
environmental footprint
geohazards

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 42908 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Periglacial Landforms and Fluid Dynamics in the Permafrost Domain: A Case from the Taz Peninsula, West Siberia

by Natalya Misyurkeeva, Igor Buddo, Gleb Kraev, Aleksandr Smirnov, Alexey Nezhdanov, Ivan Shelokhov, Anna Kurchatova and Andrei Belonosov

Energies 2022, 15(8), 2794; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15082794 - 11 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1541

Abstract

Most of the developing oil and gas fields in Russia are located in Arctic regions and constructed on permafrost, where recent environmental changes cause multiple hazards for their infrastructure. The blowing-up of pingos, resulting in the formation of gas emission craters, is one of the disastrous processes associated both with these external changes and, likely, with deep sources of hydrocarbons. We traced the channels of fluid migration which link a gas features reservoirs with periglacial phenomena associated with such craters with the set of geophysical methods, including common depth point and shallow transient electromagnetic methods, on an area of a prospected gas field. We found correlated vertical anomalies of acoustic coherence and electrical resistivity associated with gas chimneys in the upper 500–600 m of the section. The thickness of the ice-bonded permafrost acting as a seal for fluids decreased in the chimney zone, forming 25–50 m deep pockets in the permafrost base. Three pingos out of six were located above chimneys in the study area of 200 km². Two lakes with parapets typical for craters were found. We conclude that the combination of applied methods is efficacious in terms of identifying this type of hazard and locating potentially hazardous objects in the given territory. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic)

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11 pages, 1288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Organic Matter in Soils of Suburban Landscapes of Yamal Region: Humification Degree and Mineralizing Risks

by Ivan Alekseev, Gleb Kraev, Aleksandr Shein and Pavel Petrov

Energies 2022, 15(6), 2301; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15062301 - 21 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2073

Abstract

Various research issues related to soil organic matter in permafrost soils are still poorly investigated. At the same time, numerous investigations have shown the importance of permafrost soils, as they serve as a huge reservoir of organic matter. This work is aimed at the investigation of permafrost-affected soils in the southern part of the Yamal region, namely at the assessment of composition (fractional, elemental and molecular) of soil organic matter in topsoils formed under different biogeoclimatogenic conditions in tundra and forest tundra. Special attention was given to assessment of potential vulnerability of soil organic matter in the context of Arctic warming. Results showed the predominance of fulvic acids in the humus of the studied soils, which indicates mineralization risks in the humic substances system of Arctic soils under conditions of further warming. The ¹³C-NMR analysis of humic acids revealed that all the studied soils are characterized by higher portions of aliphatic groups of carbon and decreased portions of aromatic groups and revealed early stages of the humification process in studied soils. These results contribute to scarcely distributed research of soil organic matter in permafrost soils of the Arctic. Moreover, our research provided new data on the vulnerability of soil organic matter and its possible mineralization risks under pronounced climate change in the Arctic using the modern instrumental technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic)

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18 pages, 5786 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Agrochemical and Pollution Status of Urbanized Agricultural Soils in the Central Part of Yamal Region

by Timur Nizamutdinov, Evgeny Abakumov, Eugeniya Morgun, Rostislav Loktev and Roman Kolesnikov

Energies 2021, 14(14), 4080; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144080 - 06 Jul 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1845

Abstract

This research looked at the state of soils faced with urbanization processes in the Arctic region of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District (YANAO). Soils recently used in agriculture, which are now included in the infrastructure of the cities of Salekhard, Labytnangi, Kharsaim, and Aksarka in the form of various parks and public gardens were studied. Morphological, physico-chemical, and agrochemical studies of selected soils were conducted. Significant differences in fertility parameters between urbanized abandoned agricultural soils and mature soils of the region were revealed. The quality of soil resources was also evaluated in terms of their ecotoxicology condition, namely, the concentrations of trace metals in soils were determined and their current condition was assessed using calculations of various individual and complex soil quality indices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic)

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16 pages, 2473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Diversity and Key Functional Characteristics of Yakutsk City: Largest Urbanized Cryogenic World’s Ecosystem

by Vyacheslav Polyakov, Timur Nizamutdinov, Evgeny Abakumov and Eugeniya Morgun

Energies 2021, 14(13), 3819; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133819 - 25 Jun 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1740

Abstract

Urban soils are the most vulnerable component of the current terrestrial ecosystem. Due to the anthropogenic influence, various pollutants can accumulate in the soils and have a negative effect on the health of citizens. As a result of the degradation of permafrost landscapes, the disappearance of a number of natural ecosystems, as well as urban areas, is possible. In the course of the development of thermokarst processes, problems arise in the urban environment with the destruction of urban buildings and a decrease in agricultural areas. The ecosystem of Yakutsk city is located in the valley of the Lena River and represents the largest urbanized terrestrial biotope, located in the permafrost-affected bioclimatic and geogenic conditions. This work represents relevant datasets on the physico-chemical, toxicological and agrochemical state of soil cover components in various functional zones of the city. An 3excess of the maximum threshold levels for Zn was noted in the area of active mining within the city borders. From the data obtained of pollution state, the most polluted zone of Yakutsk city is the quarry complex located in relative proximity to the city. In other studied areas of the city, there is no excess of permissible threshold levels for trace elements. According to agrochemical analysis, in Yakutsk city, there is a relatively low content of available agrochemical elements in comparison with other cities located in the permafrost-affected zone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic)

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13 pages, 4788 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of ICEYE Microsatellites Sensor for Surface Motion Detection—Jakobshavn Glacier Case Study

by Magdalena A. Łukosz, Ryszard Hejmanowski and Wojciech T. Witkowski

Energies 2021, 14(12), 3424; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123424 - 10 Jun 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2679

Abstract

The marine-terminating glaciers are one of the biggest contributors to global sea-level rise. Research on this aspect of the effects of global climate change is developing nowadays in several directions. One of them is monitoring of glaciers movements, especially with satellite data. In addition to well-known analyzes based on radar data from available satellites, the possibility of studying glacier displacements from new sensors, the so-called microsatellites need to be studied. The main purpose of research was evaluation of the possibility of applying new high-resolution ICEYE radar data to observe glacier motion. Stripmap High mode were used to obtain velocities for the Jakobshavn glacier with an Offset-Tracking method. Obtained results were compared with displacements obtained from the Sentinel-1 data. The comparative analysis was performed on displacements in range and azimuth directions and for maximum velocity values. Moreover, correlation plots showed that in different parts of glaciers, a comparison of obtained velocities delivers different correlation coefficients (R²) in a range from 0.52 to 0.97. The analysis showed that the scale of movements is similar from both sensors. However, Sentinel-1 data present underestimation of velocities comparing to ICEYE data. The biggest deviations between results were observed around the maximum velocities, near the Kangia Ice Fjord Bay. In the analysis the amplitude information was used as well. This research presents that data from the ICEYE microsatellites can be successfully used for monitoring glacial areas and it allows for more precise observations of displacement velocity field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Ecosystems and Environmental Geology: Threats, Challenges and Solutions in the Arctic)

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