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#yakutia

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Putin's IBS

"What's the rating on TripAdvisor?" 🤔

At the airport in #Lensk, #Yakutia, #Russia, people walk the planks to get to an aeroplane.

The #Russians complain that #Yakutia has low salaries, no infrastructure, and absolute communal hell. And all this despite the fact that #Yakutia is considered the richest region of #Russia: more than 25% of the world's diamond production is mined there.

#ukraine #putinisamasskiller #putinisawarcriminal @kardinal691

Public
Dr. Ramesh Glückler

@Iza_bai and I were interviewed about our #PhD hats by the fantastic Mack Baysinger! Check out the @EuroGeosciences Cryosphere Caps miniseries - thanks for the opportunity to discuss these lovely hats!

blogs.egu.eu/divisions/cr/2025

#wildfires #permafrost #yakutia #dog
@paleofire @wildfirescience @phdlife @academicchatter

Cryospheric SciencesCryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 3This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and memorabilia. Hours of work go into these beloved pieces, and you can often find these hand-made creations fondly perched on a shelf in faculty’s offices. Here, we talk with several researchers who work within the cryosphere sciences to get a tour of their PhD hats. In the last posts, we ‘herd’ about Torben’s arctic herbivore hat and took a tour of the Nitrogen cycle with Tina through her microbiology hat. This month we sit down for a double-hat feature with Izabella and Ramesh who both study boreal permafrost landscapes through time. For the third post in this series we talked with Dr. Izabella Baisheva (she/her), and Dr. Ramesh Glückler (he/him). Both researchers are recent graduates from the Alfred Wegener Institute and submitted their thesis to the University of Potsdam last July (Figure 1). Izabella was also affiliated with the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk (NEFU) during her time as a PhD student. In their PhD thesis work, both researchers studied alaas landscapes – a dynamic arctic system that is underlain by ice-rich permafrost and characterized by thermokarst lake formation. Izabella’s thesis research involved analyzing lake sediment samples from eastern Russia (Yakutia) to reconstruct the environment around the lakes thousands of years ago. For her thesis “Past and present environmental conditions in Yakutia – a (paleo)ecological study using lake sediments” she identified the plant species using their DNA that she extracted from the lake sediment, as well as other proxies like diatom microscopic analyses. With lake sediment samples from the same region, Ramesh used a mix of laboratory and modeling methodologies to study the history of fire in the region. His thesis “Long-term changes of wildfire regimes in eastern Siberia” contributes to efforts of advancing our ability to understand fire patterns in the subarctic today. Ramesh and Izabella first met during their field work in Siberia as members of a 30+ member expedition crew in 2021. Later, they started dating and are now a married geoscience dream-team. During this interview, we realized that their PhD hats have a lot in common, too! Hi Izabella and Ramesh, can you tell us what your original thesis research question was? Did it change over time? Ramesh: The original title of my PhD project was ‘Past and Future Forest Fires in Siberia’. For this work we used lake sediment to analyze past wildfires, and then I implemented these findings into an individual-based forest model. I had initially planned to study potential fires of the future. But it turned out it is not an easy task to simulate the future without fully understanding what happened in the past. So, my ‘past and future’ topic is more about studying the drivers of Siberian wildfires of the past. Izabella: When I began my PhD, I had initially wanted to see how the Soviet Union’s policy of agricultural collectivisation affected the permafrost landscape that is characteristic of Yakutia – the alaas. However, the methods I ended up using for my thesis measured environmental changes within the alaas on larger (thousands-year) timescales – which did not capture the specifics of this very recent time period. In Izabella’s home region of Yakutia, family groups live among the permafrost-based lakes of the alaas landscape. The lakes provide a source of fresh water for families, and the cattle they raise. Izabella keeps memories of the summers she spent with her grandparents in the haymaking season of the alaas, and witnessed the traditional lifestyle of how people live with the alaas of their ancestors. With the collectivisation of the Soviet Union, populations around alaas formations became denser and put strain on the fresh water supply. Due to these agricultural policies, as well as the warming climate, the freshwater lakes are becoming increasingly brackish and could desiccate. People are traditionally gathering fresh water as ice from the lake surface. When brackish water freezes, fresh water stays afloat as ice and salt get sent to the bottom of the water column. Figure 2: Izabella (left) sampling from her field site in 2021. Ramesh (right) holding a lake sediment core. The clear top half of the core is water, and the bottom half are the layers of mineral and organic matter that have accumulated on the bottom of the lake. Both researchers use these lake sediment cores to explore the alaas landscape of the past and present. [Credit: Ramesh Glückler, Amelie Stieg] Were there any surprising findings from your work? Ramesh: I found some surprising results by combining lake sediment core analysis (using laboratory methods such as sieving out charcoal and pollen from the sediment to uncover fire occurrence and vegetation present at the time) and modeling. We found that high fire activity coincides with more ‘open’ forest landscapes in Yakutia. This is interesting when we consider this in the context of our rapid climatic change and how it may increase tree mortality in Siberia. The increased tree mortality might be caused by biological invasions (such as insects) affecting trees or an increase in fires themselves. If these events create a more open forest landscape, it could positively reinforce a more intense fire regime in this subarctic region (Figure 2). Izabella: A cool finding from my PhD is that I observed a lake depth shallowing stage of alaas formation that could be important to include in the currently recognized stages. Alaas landscapes have been thought to have four defined formation stages. In other systems – such as in the Batagay – the permafrost thaw waters flow outwards in rivers, but here the water stays and results in lake formation (Figure 2). The final stage of formation is the alaas stage, which gives the landscape its name. Izabella found that between the ‘tyympy’ and ‘alaas’ stages, many lakes in her study region go through an extended period of shallowing. In her thesis she proposes naming this the ‘satagay’ stage as nod to the Indigenous peoples of the region, who called this stage an ‘unsettled’ form of the alaas. Can you give us a tour of your PhD Hat? Ramesh: Fire Truck The fire refers to my fire ecology topic, but the hat-crafting people put the little fire truck there because during my PhD, I joined the volunteer fire department here in Potsdam (Figure 3). I wanted to see actual vegetation fires up close to get an idea of how it behaves as I had to implement fire as a process in a model. Also, this provided a very different perspective on the topic of fire! Ramesh: Expedition Group Photo This picture in particular is one I want to highlight. It’s from our big expedition. We’re not all here in this photo, and there were more people involved in the expedition, but I think this is a cool picture because this expedition really was a major highlight of my PhD and a major experience in my life, and I am thankful to everyone involved (Figure 3). Figure 3: Ramesh’s PhD Hat, with the ‘fire’ in view. On the backside of the hat is the expedition group photo, featured here on the right panel. [Credit: Ramesh Glückler, Yakutia 2021 Expedition Team] Izabella: Balagan Here we see this hut-looking object – this is a balagan (Figure 4). It is a traditional dwelling of the Yakut people. For my PhD, I was investigating the landscape that I come from, and it makes the topic kind of personal. Alaas means ‘home’ for the Yakut people, but it also refers to the thermokarst depression that the permafrost thaw forms. Now I use my research to look back to the time where and how the alaas was formed, and it is just so interesting because it takes ~15,000 years for these to develop. Izabella: Hunter the dog This is my dog, Hunter. I missed him so much during my PhD time in Germany, and I was always speaking about him so highly that my colleagues put Hunter on the hat (Figure 4). Figure 4: Izabella’s PhD Hat, with the balagan and Hunter on the left side of the hat. The images dangling from the corners of her hat are examples of some of the diatoms found within the lake sediments. Hunter the dog is featured in the image on the right. [Credit: Izabella Baisheva] Izabella and Ramesh: Dachstein Mountains (Austria) Izabella: I was surprised that we had the same mountain on both of our hats (Figures 3 and 4). When our group was making the hat for Ramesh we had planned to mostly include the Yakutia expedition landscape, but also to represent the other expedition Ramesh took to the Dachstein mountains. Ramesh: Ah this is Dachstein? I didn’t realize! Izabella: Yes, our colleague Sarah Haupt made the ‘mountain’ with paper maché from egg cartons for Ramesh’s PhD hat. But what I didn’t realize is that she had cut this ‘mountain’ in two. She quietly kept the second half to put on my own hat since I was on the Dachstein expedition team as well. Thank you for your time, Izabella and Ramesh, and for taking us on a tour of your PhD hats. Readers, stay tuned for next month’s installment of this miniseries, in which we will take another tour of the cryosphere through the PhD hats of those studying our icy planet. Further Reading Looking for a way to stay connected to this topic? Follow @egu-cr.bsky.social on BlueSky to make sure you won’t miss any new episodes. Ramesh @rglueckler.bsky.social is also active there. Both Izabella and Ramesh you can also find on ResearchGate. For more details on the topics covered on these PhD hats, check out some of Ramesh’s and Izabella’s publications: “Holocene wildfire and vegetation dynamics in Central Yakutia, Siberia, reconstructed from lake-sediment proxies” using charcoal particles within the sediment to unravel the region’s fire history (part of Ramesh’s PhD) Izabella looked at the ages of the lake sediments and what local plants were growing in and around the alaas lakes in her paper: “Permafrost-thaw lake development in Central Yakutia: sedimentary ancient DNA and element analyses from a Holocene sediment record“ A summary of Ramesh’s PhD findings was recently published as “Long-term changes of wildfire regimes in eastern Siberia: an evaluation based on lake sediment indicators and individual-based modeling“ If you haven’t read it yet, check out the other episodes of this miniseries “Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them” Episode 2: The arctic herbivore hat of Torben Windirsch Episode 2: The microbial ecology hat of Tina Sanders Edited by Leah Sophie Muhle and Lina Madaj  
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Dr. Ramesh Glückler

New preprint out! 🔥 Using combined paleo-ecological and modeling methods, we uncover regional Holocene #wildfire dynamics in eastern #Siberia. Notably, our findings suggest potential human impacts as early as 5000 years ago - contrasting a common view of historically unmanaged forests 🌲

So far, any historical human impacts on fire regimes or traditional land use practices with relevance for wildfire were poorly acknowledged in international literature for eastern Siberia - despite clear indications from Indigenous communities, and former visitors leaving us with clear hints: For example, Georg W. Steller describes in the early 1700s his observation of common burning in forests near the Lena River. And in 1913, Fridtjof Nansen writes in his expedition notes about a long-standing habit of the Natives to burn old grasses near the Amur River. There is more to this 🔍

According to our study, fuel availability seems to be a key factor here. We discuss by example of the #Sakha how people may have reduced wildfire severity around their settlements since c. 800 years ago.

Find the preprint here:
doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.14.643

Photo taken in #Yakutia, August 2021.

@wildfirescience @paleofire @ecology #paleofire

Photo of a burned larch forest near Ytyk-Kyuyol in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), eastern Siberia. Charred tree stems stand on black ground.
Public
Putin's IBS

"Has the governor missed the 'message' of the statue?"

#Russian #Yakutsk. #Russia is unable to stop the flood of sewage because the money is spent to produce missiles for strikes on #Ukrainian cities.

Meanwhile, a #Yakut "sculptor" #Ivan_Boppósov has made a "Statue of Liberty" out of what leaks from the sewage. The governor of #Yakutia promised that the "statue" would definitely be sent to #Washington.

#ukraine #putinisamasskiller #putinisawarcriminal @kardinal691

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Dr. Ramesh Glückler

How was past #wildfire activity in eastern #Siberia and how did it relate to climate/vegetation/human activity? 🔥
Now out in E&G Quaternary Science Journal: a thesis abstract summarizing main findings from my dissertation. Big thanks to the German Quaternary Association (DEUQUA)!

doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-101-2

@wildfirescience @paleofire @ecology #paleofire #sakha #yakutia

doi.orgLong-term changes of wildfire regimes in eastern Siberia: an evaluation based on lake sediment indicators and individual-based modeling
Public
DoomsdaysCW

From 2021: #Indigenous Leaders Speak Out About #Criminalization and #Silencing by #Putin Administration

"Indigenous organizations in Russia, allied organizations, and #CulturalSurvival have released an Open Letter to the Putin administration sounding an alarm about the growing intimidations and reprisals against #IndigenousActivists and rights defenders in Russia.

"These attacks are exemplified by the recent illegal detention of activist #AndreiDanilov (#Sámi) in the #Murmansk region. Danilov, Director of the Sámi Heritage and Development Foundation, was detained on August 29, 2021. Andrei Danilov was unlawfully detained by the police after, fearing for his safety, he refused to present his belongings for inspection without witnesses. He was detained for five days, charged with 'failure to comply with the lawful order of a police officer.'

"Danilov’s arrest is just one of the latest incidents in a series of acts of harassment against Indigenous activists and rights defenders in Russia in recent years. Days before, another Indigenous rights defender #StepanPetrov was declared a 'foreign media acting as a foreign agent' in the Republic of #Sakha on August 20, 2021. The 2012 Russian law on foreign agents, originally created to restrict international funding to Russian NGOs, is now being used to target individuals. Stepan Petrov (Sakha) is the first Indigenous person in Russia to receive the 'foreign agent' label. Petrov chairs the nonprofit group #Yakutia – Our Opinion, which is well-known in the region of the Republic of Sakha for their human rights work. The activist submitted numerous appeals to the United Nations calling on the Russian government to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (#UNDRIP) and to support civil society in Russia."

Read more:
culturalsurvival.org/news/indi
#Putin #IndigenousPeoples #Persecution #Genocide #RepublicOfSakha #Oppression #SamiPeoples

www.culturalsurvival.orgIndigenous Leaders Speak Out About Criminalization and Silencing by Putin AdministrationPhoto: Andrei Danilov (Sámi) Indigenous organizations in Russia, allied organizations, and Cultural Survival have released an Open Letter to the Putin administration sounding an alarm about the growing intimidations and reprisals against Indigenous activists and rights defenders in Russia. 
Continued thread
Public
Putin's IBS

Only five of the eight boilers in the boiler house are operating, and the rest are trying to be repaired. At the same time, in order to avoid overloading the power grid, the street lights are turned off.

Residents asked the minister of housing and utilities of #Yakutia to come to #Zhigansk, declare a state of emergency, and help with the purchase of new boilers and spare parts.

Public
Putin's IBS

In #Yakutia, #Russia, people were left without heating in 50-degree frost due to a communal accident.

In #Zhigansk on the night of January 1, the boiler house stopped working. The temperature dropped to 5-7 degrees Celsius in some apartments. The situation is especially difficult in dilapidated houses – radiators started to burst there. Residents have to wear winter clothes and shoes at home, and the stores have already sold out heaters and blankets.

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Dr. Ramesh Glückler

It's done! 🎓
I've successfully completed my doctoral #defense in #Geoecology at the University of Potsdam and @awi!
I'm especially grateful for the warm support by my family, fantastic colleagues, and the Potsdam fire department! 🔥
Very excited to now dive even deeper into researching #wildfires in boreal forests!

#fire #ecology #paleoecology #siberia #sakha #yakutia #feuerwehr @paleofire @wildfirescience @academicchatter @phdlife

View from the back of a lecture room towards me presenting the last slide of my doctoral defense presentation.
Public
Putin's IBS

The bodies of those killed in the war can not be brought to #Yakutia because there are no bridges along the way. The price for ferry transportation has been raised tenfold – from one to ten thousand rubles. Therefore, cargo 200 will not reach the republic.

I would just like to remind you that #Yakutia is one of the richest #Russian republics in diamonds and gold and is several times larger than #Ukraine.

#Nightingale_Droppings

#ukraine #putinisamasskiller #putinisawarcriminal @kardinal691

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Putin's IBS

"#putins_russia!"

👹 "Hero of the #SVO" drunkenly hacked to death with an axe "the best teacher in #Russia" and then set fire to the house with her body.

For two brutal murders, a court in #Yakutia sentenced 36-year-old veteran #Viktor_Savvinov to 20 years in a maximum security penal colony . It happened like this: On the anniversary of the invasion of #Ukraine on February 24, the hero had a fight with his drinking buddy and beat him to death with a metal crowbar.

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