Recording Permafrost Thaw and Thaw Lake Degradation in Northern Siberia: School Science in Action

Abstract

Arctic landscapes are changing dramatically in response to climate changes that are regionally four times faster than the global average. However, these vast lands are sparsely populated and ground-based measurements of environmental change impacts on land and lakes are few compared with the impacted areas. In the Tazovsky District of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, school science has been put into practice for over 20 years to determine thermokarst lake changes and their causes. We describe the contributions of school science in recording these lake changes and also their local impacts as a contribution to the Siberian Environmental Change Network. Describing the process and results are particularly relevant to the generation that will experience the greatest environmental change impacts. In contrast to the use of traditional indigenous knowledge, we report on a conventional science methodology used by local people that further empowers a new generation to determine for themselves the changes in their environment and associated implications.

Keywords

• thermokarst lakes
• climate change
• permafrost
• school science