The plenary meeting was organized in Tomsk, followed by the expedition in the Altai Mountains to the Tomsk university research station "Aktru". School participants met variety of natural areas from the taiga to heaths and mountain glaciers during this trip.
International Summer School on Climate Change, organized by the TSU and the center "BioClimLand" brings together scientists, conducting interdisciplinary research related to the effects of global warming. This year the Summer School welcomed participants from European countries, the USA, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Australia. Young researchers work in the field of earth sciences: from permafrost and glaciology to biodiversity, botany, zoology. Young scientists presented their research activities in the form of presentations during one of the days at the Aktru station.
Professors from different countries also took part in the expedition. They held several lectures and participated in tours around the station’s neighborhood area. One of the most anticipated summer school participants is a Nobel laureate, Professor of University of Sheffield and Tomsk State University, Dr Terence V. Callaghan. He made a presentation on the climate changes globally recorded by researchers on the Arctic and Subarctic territories.
In addition to lectures and presentations, young scientists and their senior colleagues visited natural sites of Aktru valley: waterfall, taking origin from a glacier lake situated at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters, as well as relict forests. The changes occurring in recent years are quite evident: the area and volume of glaciers are steadily declining.
“Climate changes influence the entire planet. So, the main purpose of this school is to share our experience and foster cooperation between scientists from different countries. Today we are talking not about "global warming" but about climate instability, which appears in its extreme manifestations’ increase. Examples of these changes taking place in the local natural environment were demonstrated to the summer school participants “- concluded Sergey Kirpotin, director of the center "BioClimLand", organizer of the Summer School.
For reference: the Altai Mountains are the southernmost point of the Western Siberia, where scientists from TSU conduct their research. The scientific station in the Aktru valley functions for over a half century; large international scientific events also often take place here. In 2011, "Aktru" entered the international network INTERACT, connecting arctic and alpine research stations.