UAF participation in: C budget of ecosystems and cities and villages on permafrost in eastern Russian Arctic (COPERA)

该奖项为参加一个项目的美国研究人员提供支持，该项目是由14个国家通过贝尔蒙特论坛就全球变化研究开展的一项倡议竞争性选择的。贝尔蒙特论坛是一个高层次的世界集团？全球环境变化研究和国际科学理事会的主要和新兴资助者。 它的目的是通过调整和调动国际资源，加快提供最迫切需要的国际环境研究，以消除可持续性的关键障碍。每个伙伴国家都在一个财团内为其研究人员提供资金，以减轻跨越国际边界的资金需求。 这一方法有助于有效利用国家资源，支持对全球相关主题进行出色的研究，最好通过多国方法加以解决，同时认识到全球挑战需要全球解决方案，在这一合作研究行动中，伙伴机构为利用现有北极观测系统的研究项目提供了支持，该项目旨在利用数据集和模型来评估北极地区关键的可持续性挑战和机遇，创新新的可持续性科学理论和方法来应对这些挑战和机遇，并支持可持续北极环境的决策。 该奖项为美国研究人员提供支持，使他们能够在由至少三个参与国的合作伙伴组成的联盟中进行合作，并将自然科学家，社会科学家和最终用户（例如，政策制定者、监管机构、非政府组织、社区和行业）。 东西伯利亚的生态系统建立在世界上最大和最深的永久冻土区上，地球上的大部分地区？的二氧化碳被封存。这种独特的永久冻土生态系统目前正受到全球变暖的威胁。除了这种变暖的直接影响外，永久冻土的退化可能会导致植被和碳收支以及温室气体排放的进一步变化，这些变化可能会反馈到气候系统。 在这个脆弱的地区，随着萨哈共和国（雅库特）城市内的人口扩大和增加碳排放量，经济和人口结构正在发生重大变化，而较小的定居点则由于城市能源需求成本上升而下降并难以负担取暖燃料。 这个环境脆弱地区的人口和排放增长对环境的影响以及北极居民对可行的低碳能源解决方案的需求推动了COPERA项目。 来自美国、俄罗斯和日本的合作研究小组将与当地社区合作，建立一个永久冻土、水文和气象观测网络，以估算永久冻土生态系统（苔原和针叶林）的CO2封存和城市和村庄的CO2排放。在这项研究中，碳预算（通过生态系统和人类活动的CO2排放量的CO2封存）估计为两个不同的观点的措施。一个是衡量对气候和环境的影响，另一个是生活成本，因为更多的燃料燃烧意味着更高的能源成本。这两项措施的影响远远超出了萨哈地区的当地影响。在该项目期间收集的数据将被翻译成可公开获取的材料，并与当地居民和政府分享，以告知市政、地区或共和国政府委员会和/或理事会会议。

This award provides support to U.S. researchers participating in a project competitively selected by a 14-country initiative on global change research through the Belmont Forum. The Belmont Forum is a high level group of the world?s major and emerging funders of global environmental change research and international science councils. It aims to accelerate delivery of the international environmental research most urgently needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. Each partner country provides funding for their researchers within a consortium to alleviate the need for funds to cross international borders. This approach facilitates effective leveraging of national resources to support excellent research on topics of global relevance best tackled through a multinational approach, recognizing that global challenges need global solutions.Working together in this Collaborative Research Action, the partner agencies have provided support for research projects that utilize existing Arctic observing systems, datasets and models to evaluate key sustainability challenges and opportunities in the Arctic region, to innovate new sustainability science theory and approaches to these challenges and opportunities, and support decision-making towards a sustainable Arctic environment. This award provides support for the U.S. researchers to cooperate in consortia that consist of partners from at least three of the participating countries and that bring together natural scientists, social scientists and end users (e.g., policy makers, regulators, NGOs, communities and industry). The eastern Siberian ecosystem is established on the largest and deepest permafrost region in the world, where much of the earth?s carbon dioxide is sequestrated. This unique permafrost-based ecosystem is currently threatened by global warming. In addition to the direct effects of this warming, permafrost degradation may cause further change in vegetation and carbon budget and greenhouse gas emission that may then feedback to the climate system. In this vulnerable region, considerable economic and demographic change is taking place as populations within the cities of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) expand and increase their carbon emissions, while smaller settlements decline and struggle to afford heating fuel due to rising costs associated with the urban demands for energy. The environmental impacts of population and emission growth in this environmentally vulnerable region and the need for viable low carbon energy solutions for Arctic residents drive the COPERA project. The collaborative research team from the US, Russia, and Japan will establish a permafrost, hydrological, and meteorological observing network in cooperation with local communities to estimate CO2 sequestration by the permafrost ecosystem (tundra and taiga) and CO2 emission form cities and villages. In this study, the carbon budget (CO2 sequestration by ecosystem and CO2 emission through human activity) is estimated as a measure of two different points of view. One is a measure of impact on climate and environment, and the other is that of living cost because more fuel combustion means higher cost for energy. Both of these measures have impacts well beyond the local effects in the Sakha region. Data gathered during this project will be translated into publicly accessible materials and shared with local residents and government to inform municipal, regional, or Republic governmental committees and/or council meetings.