Land-cover and Land-use Changes on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia

Recent news, publications and awards

Topp, R. 2012. The Changing Arctic. UA Museum of the North (movie).

Anscombe, N. 2012. Arctic ground measurements confirm satellite data, Environmental Research Web, April 3, 2012.

Lindsey, R. Shrub Takeover One Sign of Arctic Change, ClimateWatch Magazine, January 18, 2012.

Environmental Research Letters, Focus Issue: Focus on Dynamics of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Vegetation.
Guest editors: Howard E Epstein University of Virginia; Donald (Skip) A Walker University of Alaska Fairbanks; Isla Myers-Smith University of Alberta

• Epstein, H.E., Raynolds, M.K., Walker, D.A., Bhatt, U.S., Tucker, C.J., Pinzon, J.E. 2011. Dynamics of aboveground phytomass of the circumpolar arctic tundra during the past three decades. Environmental Research Letters.
• Walker, D.A., Epstein, H.E., Raynolds, M.K., Kuss, P., Kopecky, M.A., Frost, G.V., Daniëls, F.J.A., Leibman, M.O., Moskalenko, N.G., Matyshak, G.V., Khitun, O.V., Khomutov, A.V., Forbes, B.C., Bhatt, U.S., Kade, A.N., Vonlanthen, C.M., Tichy, L. 2012. Environment, vegetation and greenness (NDVI) along the North America and Eurasia Arctic transects. Environmental Research Letters. 7:(1).
• Yu, Q., Epstein, H.E., Walker, D.A., Frost, G.V., Forbes, B. 2011. Modeling dynamics of tundra plant communities on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, in response to climate change and grazing pressure. Environmental Research Letters. 6:(4).

Raynolds, M.K., Walker, D.A., Epstein, H.E., Pinzon, J.E., Tucker, C.J. 2012. A new estimate of tundra-biome phytomass from trans-Arctic field data and AVHRR NDVI. Remote Sensing Letters. 3:403-411.

2011 Franz Josef Land Calendar; photos from the 2011 expedition.

Program Description:

NASA's Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Program is the second component of Greening of the Arctic (GOA), and contributes to NASA’s global-change observations regarding the consequences of the decline in the Arctic sea ice and the greening of terrestrial vegetation that is occurring in northern latitudes. The work is also part of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). It addresses the NEESPI science questions regarding the local and hemispheric effects of anthropogenic changes to land use and climate in northern Eurasia.

The overarching goal of our research is to use remote-sensing technologies to examine how the terrain and anthropogenic factors of reindeer herding and resource development, combined with the climate variations on the Yamal Peninsula, affect the spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation change and how those changes are in turn affecting traditional herding by indigenous people of the region.

The Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia has undergone extensive anthropogenic disturbance and transformation of vegetation cover over the past 20 years due to gas and oil development and overgrazing by the Nenets reindeer herds. It has been identified as a “hot spot” for both Arctic climate change and land-use change.

Funded by NASA Grant No. NNG6GE00A and NNX09AK56G.