Pilot Studies of the Unique Highland Palsa Mire in Western Sayan (Tuva Republic, Russian Federation)

Abstract

In contrast to the well-studied West Siberian sector of frozen bogs in the Russian Arctic, the frozen mound bogs (so-called “palsas”) on the highlands of Southern Siberia have not yet been studied, but they are suspected to be even more sensitive to ongoing climate change. This article provides the pilot study on palsa mire Kara-Sug in the highland areas of Western Sayan mountain system, Tuva Republic. The study focuses on the current state of palsa mire and surrounding landscapes, providing wide range of ecological characteristics while describing ongoing transformations of natural landscapes under a changing climate. The study used a variety of field and laboratory methods: the integrated landscape-ecological approach, the study of peat deposits, geobotanical analysis, and modern analysis of the chemical composition of water, peat, and soils. The study shows that highland palsa mires are distinguished by their compactness and high variety of cryogenic landforms leading to high floristic and ecosystem diversity compared with lowland palsa mires. This information brings new insights and contributes to a better understanding of extrazonal highland palsa mires, which remain a “white spot” in the global environmental sciences.

Dissolved Carbon Concentrations and Emission Fluxes in Rivers and Lakes of Central Asia (Sayan–Altai Mountain Region, Tyva)

“…In the Khemchik, Ak-Sug, Alash and Adyr-Khem mountain rivers flowing in the northwestern part of the Republic of Tyva in the Western Sayans, the DIC concentration ranged from 4 to 20 mg L −1 and in other rivers from 9~13 to 55 mg L −1 . It is possible that a reason for such reduced DIC values in mountain rivers is an increased precipitation in this area [83], the presence of permafrost [88] and high runoff [89]. An opposite situation is observed in the water bodies of the more arid Ubsu-Nur basin: Tore-Khol Lake and the Tes-Khem River, where the DIC values are the highest.…”

“…Although at present, the climate changes in the territory of Tyva are already strongly pronounced (e.g., ref. [83]), it is not yet possible to quantify this impact on water bodies. However, the present study can provide a solid background for assessing the current status of C cycle in order to be able to judge the future changes which are likely to occur over the next decades.…”