August 30, 2021 has marked the official opening of a CARBON POLYGON at the University of Tyumen\u2019s (UTMN) Biological Station located on Lake Kuchak, Tyumen Region, Russia. The Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, Andrei Fursenko, and the Minister of Science and Higher Education, Valeriy Falkov, were in attendance. This event was part of a special programme of the Russian government to build a network of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) monitoring sites (so-called \u201ccarbon polygons\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0throughout Russia. \u201cTo address climate change, we\u2019ve made a decision more than a year ago to create a network of carbon monitoring sites\u201d, – Andrei Fursenko stated in the welcoming word. by Dr. Andrei Tolstikov, Senior Vice Rector, Tyumen State University<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
Although locations of seven pilot polygons were named in February, 2021, the monitoring facility in the Tyumen Region was the first be opened officially.
\u201cThe West Siberian Interregional Scientific and Educational Center together with the Tyumen Region administration and the University of Tyumen will launch the first GHG monitoring site. Six more territorial units are next in line,” said Russia’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, Valeriy Falkov, at the opening of the facility Carbon test site opened on the basis of Tyumen State University (link to article in TASS<\/a>).
It is expected that around 80 carbon polygons will be established in Russia over the next several years, covering most of the country\u2019s ecoregions.
SIBUR, one of Russia\u2019s largest petrochemicals companies and an industrial partner of the Tyumen Region\u2019s carbon polygon initiative, has purchased the research equipment for the monitoring facility (link to article in Neftegazru<\/a>)
The Tyumen Oblast\u2019s Governor Alexander Moor has announced<\/a> plans to build a network of carbon polygons throughout the Tyumen Region, whose ecozones range from the forest-steppe in the south to the Arctic tundra in the north. The Region has recently supported three MegaGrant projects focused on climate change, with leading world scientists acting as project PIs.
From this point on, climate research at the University of Tyumen will receive a priority status.<\/a>\u00a0The UTMN rector Ivan Romanchuk has emphasized<\/a> the University\u2019s strengths in the following fields: biogeochemistry, soil biology, soil science, plant ecophysiology, atmospheric physics, and drone applications.
UTMN is involved in a wide spectrum of research collaborations with domestic and international partners, making it one of the Russia\u2019s leaders in the carbon polygon programme.
The event featured a series of presentations that included educational overviews of carbon dioxide management opportunities, as well as demonstrations of the scientific equipment used to study climate change and various other forest, soil, and aquatic ecosystem matters in the Tyumen Region. In addition, on August 31, 2021, UTMN has hosted the 1st International Scientific Practical Conference “Ecosystems of the Future”, devoted to the topical issues of global climate risk. Link to the video: CP1.mp4<\/a> The recently launched the University of Tyumen’s carbon polygon should strengthen the research collaboration potential between the UTMN and the University of Helsinki in the context of the PEEX programme and the GlobalSMEAR<\/a> initiative.<\/p>\n