Elgeeii Scientific Forest Station
Location
The Spasskaya Pad Scientific Forest Station (62°14’ N, 129°37’ E; elevation approx. 220 m a.s.l.; study area 4.43 km2) is located on a Pleistocene terrace at the western bank of the middle sections of the Lena River in Central Yakutia region of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, approximately 20 km north of the city of Yakutsk and around 480 km south of Arctic Circle. This area is located in the zone of continuous permafrost (permafrost thickness over 150 m).
History
The Spasskaya Pad Scientific Forest Station was founded in 1952 by the Krasnoyarsk Forest Institute (SB RAS). In 1992, the station was transferred to IBPC SB RAS. It consists of several new or recently renovated buildings. The station is fully equipped with year-round accommodation facilities (10-12 beds, water supply, and kitchen), heating, electricity, portable electrical generators, radiotelephone, computer, printer, scanner, e-mail and internet access, etc. A laboratory is available, equipped with some basic tool-boxes and instruments, drying ovens, refrigerators, scales, etc. There is year-round available sauna and summer-time showers. Outdoor storehouses are available. The station can accommodate up to 30 persons during the summer. There are two observational towers (32 m in larch forest and 24 m in pine forest) with a wide range of micrometeorological devices and eddy-covariance systems. Three 20 m high crown-access towers with full access to any tree level in larch forest are available for botanical, morphological, and eco-physiological studies.
Research
Inter-disciplinary research is conducted at the station with focus on understanding fundamental characteristics and processes of the atmosphere, the biosphere, the hydrosphere, and the cryolithosphere. Ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity are also studied to assess the impact of global environmental change. Research also includes short term monitoring of different aspects of human activity. The obtained data are available at the web-sites of GEWEX-GAME-Siberia, JST CREST, PIN-MATRA, TCOS-Siberia, and CarboEuroFlux projects.
Biodiversity
The main ecosystem around the station is boreal light taiga, but there are also pine and birch forests along with alases (specific Yakutian thermokarst formations), meadows, and mixed forests. Main forest types are red-bilberry larch (Laricetum vacciniosum), cowberry pines (Pinetum arctostaphylosum), and herby birches (Betuletum mixtoherbosum).
Human Presence
The main human activities in the areas surrounding the Spasskaya Pad Scientific Forest Station comprise picking berries, collecting mushrooms, and breeding horses.
Access
The Spasskaya Pad Scientific Forest Station is reached year-round by car within 1.5 hours from Yakutsk city. Yakutsk has an airport with daily flights to Moscow as well as a river port (Lena River).
Polardex assistant
Sign in to ask about polar stations, vessels, aircraft and planned expeditions.
Sign in