View of the Ambarchik station from the sea, several buildings and masts in the distance, green meadows, blue sky with white cirrus clouds, a larger amount of snow is still on the beach, there is also a lot of gray driftwood with a few wooden huts between them

Ambarchik (Russia)

Athmospheric research station at the Arctic Ocean

Continuous gas concentration measurements of carbon dioxide and methane in the permafrost region of the Siberian Tundra on the Arctic Ocean.

Description & History

In the past, the rural site, in Siberia on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, served as a transit prison camp in the Russian Gulag system. The Ambarchik locality also played a supporting role in Russian exploration of the Arctic.

Since 1935 until today the site has served as a polar research and meteorological station. The weather station is staffed by 2 people who read meteorological data every 3 hours and pass it on to the weather service.

In summer 2014, a tower for continuous gas concentration measurements of carbon dioxide and methane was built in close cooperation with Sergei A. Zimov.
The station is equipped with a 27 m high tower and a Picarro analyzer for high precision measurements of CO2, CH4 and H2O, along with meteorological instrumentation.

The Ambarchik Station helps to shed light on permafrost-related processes in the global carbon budget. Its coastal location makes it possible to capture atmospheric signatures of carbon exchange processes from the Arctic Ocean and Siberian Tundra.

The project was part of Friedemann Reum's dissertation from the IPAS group (Integrating surface-atmosphere Exchange Processes Across Scales - Modeling and Monitoring), which is led by Matthias Goeckede.

Location

Siberian tundra
Latitude: 69.62
Longitude: 162.30

Overview

Gas measurements CH4/CO2/H2O
Meteorology

Projects

PAGE21
CarboPerm
PerCCOM

Collaboration

Sergei A. Zimov, Northeast Science Station (NESS), Cherskii, RU

in 2020 Synergy Grant tendered..... with some delay due to Corona pandemic, starting in 2022, the q-Arctic project will bring to light new research results from the polar region on the Kolyma.

Variables

Concentration measurements

Mixing ratios - CH₄/CO₂/H₂O - Picarro G2301(CRDS)

Meteorology

Wind speed - Ultrasonic anemometer 2D - uSonic-2, Metek
Air pressure - Pressure transmitter 278 (CS100), Setra
Air temperature and humidity - Temperature-humidity sensor KPK1_6-ME-H38, Mela Sensortechnik GmbH

Ground conditions

Soil temperature - PT100

Data acquisition

Meteorological data - Data logger CR3000, Campbell Scientific
Picarro - industrial computer

Publications/ Presentations

Friedeman Reum: "A new window on Arctic greenhouse gases: continuous atmospheric observations from Ambarchik on the Arctic coast in North-Eastern Siberia". Talk at 10th International Carbon Dioxide Conference, 21-25 August 2017, Interlaken, Switzerland.