Researchers of the Moscow State University have created a database "Thermoabrasion of the seashores of the Russian Arctic", which contains information on qualitative and quantitative parameters characterizing the shores of six seas: Barents, Pechora, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Bering.

Thermoabrasion is the destruction of frozen shores as a result of thermal (thermal) and wave action. Almost a third of the entire coastline of the Arctic seas of Russia is subject to this process. To date, researchers from various scientific groups have published a lot of data on the destruction of the shores of the Arctic seas in various regions of the Russian Arctic. However, only the geographers of Moscow State University for the first time collected all the available knowledge into a single database "Thermoabrasion of the seashores of the Russian Arctic".

"Forming a database, the geographers of Moscow State University combined literary, archival and information obtained as a result of their own observations, which reflects the magnitude of the retreat or, conversely, accumulation (that is, "build-up") of the coast for various parts of the Russian Arctic over the past century," the report says.

The database allows you to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of the rates of coastal retreat along the Arctic coast of Russia, compare the rates of coastal destruction with various environmental features - lithological composition of rocks, geomorphological level, as well as hydrometeorological parameters - the duration of the ice-free period, annual sums of positive and negative air temperatures, the frequency of storms.

In the future, MSU geographers plan to supplement and expand the database in order to understand in more detail how the coastline of the Arctic seas changes over time.

The Norwegian government will allocate about 10 million kroner, which is over 1 million euros, to its Arctic Ocean exploration program.

The funds will go to GoNorth, a program to gain more knowledge about the Arctic Ocean. The program brings together scientists from several Norwegian universities and research centers, including the Norwegian Polar Institute, the University Center in Svalbard, the Nansen Center and the Arctic University of Norway. The research will be carried out by three expeditions, the first of which is to take place in October-November of 2022.

According to Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy Bjornar Skjaeran, GoNorth supports Norway’s position as an Arctic nation.

Matthias Forwick, a scientist from the Arctic University of Norway and one of the program leaders, said that ocean floor studies may provide additional data for combatting climate change. In particular, it may help in learning how the region reacted to earlier temperature changes and, for instance, to methane emissions.

Japan is interested in conducting joint research with Yakutia on permafrost and climate change. This was stated by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Russia Toyohisa Kazuki at a meeting with the head of Yakutia Aisen Nikolaev.

According to Nikolayev, the Arctic theme is a promising area of cooperation between the two countries.

During the working visit, the Japanese diplomat visited the year-round greenhouse complex "Sayuri". This project has been implemented jointly with companies from Japan for five years. In the near future, the construction of greenhouse blocks with a total area of 1.2 hectares will be completed.

The head of the republic has previously called cooperation with Japanese partners one of the priorities of Yakutia's international relations. He considers the construction of wind power plants in the village of Tiksi to be a significant project — they were launched in 2018.

A research aerosol station has been installed on Bely island in the Kara sea to help determine the impact of emissions from burning fossil fuels, natural gas, and wildfires on the Arctic atmosphere. The station appeared thanks to the joint work of scientists from Moscow state University and their colleagues from the scientific center for the study of the Arctic (Salekhard)

 "Currently, assessment of the environment and climate change in the Arctic region is greatly complicated by the lack of knowledge on emission sources, the number and composition of aerosol pollution, which determines the impact on the Arctic ecosystem," - said a leading scientist of the Department of microelectronics SINP MSU Olga Popovicheva.

Indeed, Bely Island is the northernmost territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomy District. It is located on the path of air masses that come to the Arctic from areas of Northern Siberia with high industrial activity.

According to the researchers, combustion of aerosols is the most ecologically and climatically significant component of the polluted atmosphere, and continuous measurements will allow analyzing the degree of load of the Arctic atmosphere with the climatically active component, black carbon, in order to determine the contribution of burning fossil fuels, natural gas and wildfires to the Arctic atmosphere.

It is also expected to determine the main characteristics of the background Arctic aerosol and seasonal variability trends during the Arctic haze.

First, in 2014, the island was established by the research hospital of the Russian center of Arctic exploration, and in 2015, scientists of the Institute of industrial ecology Ural branch of RAS mounted Picarro laser analyzer for continuous measurements of greenhouse gases. The data obtained today help to determine the sources and volumes of greenhouse gas emissions at a distance of up to a thousand kilometers.