Samoylov (island)

Samoylov
Waters	Lena
Geographical location	72 ° 22 '36 " N , 126 ° 29' 22" E Coordinates: 72 ° 22 '36 " N , 126 ° 29' 22" E
length	2.6 km
width	2 km
surface	4.5 km²
Highest elevation	12 m
Residents	6 (permanent staff of the research station) ; 1.3 inhabitants / km²

Samoilow ( Russian остров Самойловский ) is a Russian island in the Lena Delta . Politically, it belongs to Bulunski ulus of the Sakha Republic . The Samoyov Island research station located on the island is an international center for permafrost research in the Russian Arctic .

geography

The island is where two of the largest tributaries of the Lena flow apart, the Protoka Tumatskaja to the north and the Protoka Olenjokskaja to the west. It is about five kilometers away from the main stream of the Lena. Samoylov has the shape of a rectangle with outwardly curved sides, is about 2.6 km long and about 2 km wide from southeast to northwest.

The island of Samoyilov belongs to the youngest part of the Lena Delta, which was only formed in the last 8,000 to 9,000 years and is very flat with heights of up to 12 m . Its west coast is characterized by accumulation processes with fluvial and aeolian sedimentation , with fine to medium sands dominating. In contrast, the east coast is dominated by abrasion processes that have led to the formation of a cliff coast . 70 percent of the island consists of deposits from the middle Holocene . The surface of this part is characterized by ice wedge polygons that form a network-like pattern.

climate

Samoylov has an arctic climate with permafrost. The ground is permanently frozen to a depth of 500 to 600 m. Only in summer does a 30 to 45 cm thick layer thaw on the surface.

The mean annual temperature is −13.6 ° C. The coldest month is February with an average of −33.2 ° C, the warmest is July with an average of 9.3 ° C. The prevailing wind direction is northeast. Its mean speed is 4.35 m / s. The annual amount of precipitation as snow or rain averages 319 mm.

vegetation

Except for the sandy western part, Samoilow is covered by forestless wet tundra . The raised edges of the ice wedge polygons are covered with dwarf shrubs of the species Dryas punctata as well as floor moss ( Hylocomium splendens ) and Austrian coarse-toothed moss ( Timmia austriaca ). Hydrophytes such as various types of sedges as well as the moss Limprichtia revolvens and long-stemmed broken moss ( Meesia longiseta ) thrive in the moist interior of the polygons .

Research station

Samoyilov has been part of the Lena Delta Reserve since 1996 , the largest nature reserve in Russia with an area of over 60,527 km². In 1998, an existing wooden house of the reserve administration was opened on the island as a research station, which has since been used by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven together with Russian partners for permafrost research. In 2005 the building was expanded and in 2013 a modern three-wing new building was opened.

Web links

Topographic map of the Lena Delta (1: 1,000,000 Bl S-51.52, Ed 1986th).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c H. W. Hubberten, D. Wagner, EM Pfeiffer, J. Boike, AY Gukov: The Russian-German research station Samoylov, Lena Delta - A keysite for polar research in the Siberian Arctic . In: Polar Research . tape 73 , no. 2/3 , 2006, p. 111-116 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.24419 .

↑ Georg Schwamborn, Volker Rachold, Mikhail N. Grigoriev: Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta . In: Quaternary International . tape 89 , 2002, p. 119-134 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.15242 .

↑ Julia Schneider, Guido Grosse, Dirk Wagner: Land cover classification of tundra environments in the Arctic Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 ETM + data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions . In: Remote Sensing of Environment . tape 113 , 2009, pp. 380–391 , doi : 10.1016 / j.rse.2008.10.013 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.31719 .

↑ Samoyov station on the homepage of the INTERACT project, accessed on November 5, 2016.

↑ Samoylov Island Research Station. A basis for Russian-German permafrost research in Siberia , Alfred Wegener Institute, October 20, 2015, accessed on November 5, 2016.

[Hubberten-1] H. W. Hubberten, D. Wagner, EM Pfeiffer, J. Boike, AY Gukov: The Russian-German research station Samoylov, Lena Delta - A keysite for polar research in the Siberian Arctic . In: Polar Research . tape 73 , no. 2/3 , 2006, p. 111-116 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.24419 .

[Schwamborn-2] Georg Schwamborn, Volker Rachold, Mikhail N. Grigoriev: Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta . In: Quaternary International . tape 89 , 2002, p. 119-134 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.15242 .

[Schneider-3] Julia Schneider, Guido Grosse, Dirk Wagner: Land cover classification of tundra environments in the Arctic Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 ETM + data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions . In: Remote Sensing of Environment . tape 113 , 2009, pp. 380–391 , doi : 10.1016 / j.rse.2008.10.013 (English). hdl : 10013 / epic.31719 .

[INTERACT-4] Samoyov station on the homepage of the INTERACT project, accessed on November 5, 2016.

[AWI-5] Samoylov Island Research Station. A basis for Russian-German permafrost research in Siberia , Alfred Wegener Institute, October 20, 2015, accessed on November 5, 2016.