|
CALM SITE R2 |
AYACH-YAKHA |
|
Site code |
R2 |
|
Site name |
Ayach-Yakha |
|
CAPS I Metadata form |
GGD345 |
|
CAPS II Metadata form |
GGD313_R2 |
|
Responsible for data submission |
Galina
Mazhitova |
|
Email Address |
mazhitova”-at-“ib.komisc.ru |
|
Institution/Organization |
Institute
of Biology, Komi Center RAS, Syktyvkar |
|
Location description |
European
North of Russia |
|
Location Lat. |
67 deg. 35
min. N |
|
Location Lon. |
64 deg. 11
min. E |
|
Elevation avg. (m) |
148 |
|
Methods Grid |
100 |
|
Methods Other |
Air Temperature, Soil temperature, Soil Moisture, Snow
Depth, Frost heave and Thaw settlement |
|
Landscape Description |
Shallow,
glacial marine deposit over bedrock, dissected by streams |
|
Vegetation /Classification |
Mesic dwarf
shrub-moss tundra with frost boils |
|
Soils (or Material) |
Turbi-Histic
(Gleyic), Gleyi-Turbic Cryosols (loamy) |
|
Thaw depth measurements (year started)
|
1999 |
|
Air temp. measurements (year started) |
1947 |
|
Snow cover measurements (year started) |
2001 |
|
soil temp. measurements (year started) |
1999 |
|
soil moisture measurements (year started) |
1999 |
|
general description of soil moisture (dry, moist, wet,
saturated) |
Moist |
|
soil texture: if non organic describe texture, if organic
indicate thickness of organic layer (cm) |
12 |
SITE
DESCRIPTION
The
Ayach-Yakha CALM site (67 35.40N; 64 09.90E) is located near the town of
Vorkuta, 400 km to the east of Bolvansky grid. MAAT at the Vorkuta weather
station is 5.9 C and precipitation is 550 mm (1948–2002). The Ayach-Yakha grid is located 13 km
northeast of the town of Vorkuta on an undulating plain covered with silty loam
of glacial-marine origin. The grid occupies a gentle (3 deg.) southwest-facing
slope with a creek flowing within 20 m of its lower border. The range of
elevations within the site is 5 m. Schist bedrock is exposed in the creek
valley. At the two lowest tiers of the grid the loamy deposit is about
120–150 cm thick over the bedrock. Dwarf shrub/feather moss tundra with
numerous frost boils occupies the site. Some dwarf birch and willow thickets
are up to 50 cm high. Soil organic layer thickness ranges from 0 to 25 cm, with
a site average of 12 cm. Soils are gleyed and thixotropic, with cryoturbation
best developed under and around frost boils. The soils are classified as
Turbi-Histic (Gleyic) and Gleyi-Turbic Cryosols (Mazhitova et al., 2004).
SOIL DESCRIPTION:
(predominant texture, i.e., ‘sand’, ‘gravel’,
‘peat’, etc.): Dystri
Turbi-Histic (Gleyic), Gleyi-Turbic Cryosols (loamy)
SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHOD:
1-ha grid
consists of a square array of surveyed permanent stakes separated by 10 m,
yielding an 11 × 11 array of sampling nodes on each grid. Thaw depth sampling
was conducted four times by manual probing at each stake. The four values for
each sampling point are averaged, yielding a maximum of 121 data points per
grid per probing date. Snow depths are measured at each grid
node annually in April. Volumetric water content in the surface soil horizon is
determined for each grid node annually at the end of the warm season. Water
content is determined several times during the season by portable Vitel
Hydra® probe. Air temperatures at a height of 2 m, as well as soil and
upper-permafrost temperatures are recorded with the use of miniature Onset data
loggers. Ground subsidence and/or heave are determined at Ayach-Yakha for each
grid node annually at the beginning and at the end of the warm season with the
use of a 2H-10KL leveling instrument (Russia) providing for 4 mm accuracy.
REFERENCES:
Mazhitova
G., Malkova
(Ananjeva) G., Chestnykh O., Zamolodchikov D. 2004. Active-layer spatial and temporal variability at
European Russian Circumpolar-Active-Layer-Monitoring (CALM) sites. Permafrost
and Periglacial Processes,15. P. 123–139.
Mazhitova, G.G. & Kaverin, D.A.
2007. Thaw depth dynamics and soil surface subsidence at a Circumpolar active
layer monitoring (CALM) site, the European north of Russia. Kriosfera Zemli XI(4): 20-30.
Mazhitova, G.G. et al. 2008. Recent Decade Thaw-Depth Dynamics in the
European Russian Arctic, Based on the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring
(CALM) Data. Proceedings of
the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, Fairbanks, Alaska, Vol. 2,
1155-1160