Sergey Aphanasievich Zimov (russian: Сергей Афанасьевич Зимов; b. 18 July 1955) is a Russian

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

who specialises in

arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Genera ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

. He is the Director of Northeast Scientific Station (a research institute of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

), a senior research fellow of the Pacific Institute for Geography (an institute within the Far East Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FED RAS)), and one of the founders of Pleistocene Park (a 160 km² wildlife preserve and a research substation of the Northeast Scientific Station). He is best known for his work in advocating the theory that human overhunting of large herbivores during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

caused Siberia's grassland-steppe ecosystem to disappear and for raising awareness as to the important roles

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

and thermokarst lakes play in the global carbon cycle. According to a colleague, Sergey Zimov is the most cited Russian earth scientist.

Life and work

Sergei Zimov, born 18 July 1955,Pleistocene Park
“Today is the 18th of July ...”
Facebook post of 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018. is a Russian scientist who resides in Cherskii,

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. He studied and received his degree in

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

from Far East State University, located in

Vladivostok, Russia Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

.Sergey A. Zimov
"Pleistocene Park: Return of the Mammoth's Ecosystem."
''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

'', 6 May 2005, vol. 308, no. 5723, pp. 796–798. Zimov founded the

Northeast Science Station The Northeast Science Station of the RAS (russian: Северо-Восточная научная станция РАН) is an Arctic research station located in Chersky, Sakha Republic in Northeast Siberia. It is one of the world's three large ...

near Cherskii in 1977."Pleistocene Park and the North-East Scientific Station,"
homepage of the official website, without date. Retrieved 2 November 2016. Twelve years later, in 1988, he began the Pleistocene Park project. In 1991, Sergei Zimov was awarded the

Wolf Vishniac Award Wolf Vladimir Vishniac (April 22, 1922 – December 10, 1973) was an American microbiologist. He was the son of photographer Roman Vishniac and the father of astronomer Ethan Vishniac. Educated at Brooklyn College and Stanford University, ...

at the tenth International Symposium On Environmental Biogeochemistry (ISEB).William S. Reeburgh
"Meeting report."
Report on the Tenth International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry (ISEB-10). In: ''Geomicrobiology Journal'' 28 January 1992, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 73–74. (Full text a
eScholarship, UC
) Retrieved 3 November 2016.

Professional highlights and accomplishments

Northeast Science Station

Coordinates: 69 degrees 30 minutes North latitude, 161 degrees 30 minutes East longitudeEarth Exploration Toolbook

Without date. Retrieved 2 November 3016. Sergei Zimov is a co-founder and the director of the Northeast Science Station, F. Stuart ‘Terry’ Chapin III
"Northeast Science Station. Cherskii, Russia."terrychapin.org
12 November 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2016. one of the world's three largest Arctic stations.
Arctic.Ru, 5 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017 Located near Cherskii, Russia on the mouth of the

Kolyma River The Kolyma ( rus, Колыма, p=kəlɨˈma; sah, Халыма, translit=Khalyma) is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. The Kolyma is froz ...

, 150 kilometers south of the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

, the station serves as a year-round base for international Arctic research. Its focus lies on carbon cycles, methane fluxes, paleoclimate, and the changing ecosystem.International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA)
"Cherskii, Russia. Observatory."
Without date. Retrieved 2 November 2016. Founded in 1977, the Northeast Science Station boasts three laboratories, a network of field sites, tools for data analysis and communication, transportation, accommodation for visiting researchers, and a year round staff of six.Polar Field Services
"Tag Archives: Northeast Science Station."
2010–2012. Retrieved 2 November 2016. A barge floating on the Kolyma River serves as a traveling dormitory and laboratory.

Permafrost and methane

In collaboration with Dr. Terry Chapin and Dr. Katey Walter-Anthony, Sergei Zimov has published a collection of scientific papers exposing the importance of

and high-latitude

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

and

methane emissions Increasing methane emissions are a major contributor to the rising concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, and are responsible for up to one-third of near-term global heating. During 2019, about 60% (360 million tons) of methane r ...

in the global carbon cycle. These papers identified methane ebullition from thermokarst lakes to be a significant source of

atmospheric methane Atmospheric methane is the methane present in Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric methane concentrations are of interest because it is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric methane is rising. The 20-year globa ...

, a potent

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...

.University of Alaska Fairbanks
"Methane Bubbling From Arctic Lakes, Now And At End Of Last Ice Age."
''ScienceDaily'', 26 October 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2016. Permafrost is a large global carbon reservoir which has remained frozen throughout much of the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

.Sergey A. Zimov, Edward A. G. Schuur, F. Stuart Chapin III
"Climate Change Permafrost and the Global Carbon Budget."
''

'', 16 June 2006, vol. 312, no. 5780, pp. 1612–1613. (Full text a
Heat is OnlineResearchGate
) Retrieved 2 November 2016. Due to recent

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, the permafrost is beginning to thaw, releasing stored carbon and forming thermokarst lakes. When the thawed permafrost enters the thermokarst lakes, its carbon is converted into carbon dioxide and methane and released into the atmosphere.K. M. Walter, M. E. Edwards, G. Grosse, S. A. Zimov, F. S. Chapin III
4 During the Last Deglaciation."">"Thermokarst Lakes as a Source of Atmospheric CH₄ During the Last Deglaciation."
''

'', 26 October 2007, vol. 318, no. 5850, pp. 633–636. (Full text a
ResearchGate
) Retrieved 2 November 2016.K. M. Walter, S. A. Zimov, J. P. Chanton, D. Verbyla and F. S. Chapin III

''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', vol. 443, no. 7107, 7 September 2006, pp. 71–75. (Full text a
ResearchGate
)S. A. Zimov, Y. V. Voropaev, I. P. Semiletov, S. P. Davidov, S. F. Prosiannikov, F. S. Chapin III, M. C. Chapin, S. Trumbore, S. Tyler
"North Siberian Lakes: A Methane Source Fueled by Pleistocene Carbon."
In: ''

'', 8 August 1997, vol. 277, no. 5327, pp. 800–802. (Full text a
ResearchGate
) Retrieved 2 November 2016. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the methane emissions from thermokarst lakes have the potential to initiate a positive feedback cycle in which increased atmospheric methane concentrations lead to amplified global climate change, which in turn leads to more permafrost thaw and more methane and carbon dioxide emissions.

Pleistocene Park

Zimov began the Pleistocene Park project in 1988 in northeastern Siberia near the Northeast Science Station in Cherskii, Sakha Republic, Russia. Pleistocene Park seeks to test the hypotheses that large

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

s maintained the

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

and that

overhunting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

by humans caused both the animals and Pleistocene ecosystem to vanish. The grassland-steppe ecosystem, which dominated Siberia during the Pleistocene, disappeared 10,000 years ago and was replaced by mossy and forested

. Concurrently, many of the large herbivores that roamed Siberia during the Pleistocene, including

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...

es,

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

musk oxen Musk ( Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...

, elk,

saiga The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a critically endangered antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in t ...

, and

yak The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Kachin S ...

s, vanished from the region. Today,

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

and

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

are the only surviving large herbivores to roam Siberia. Zimov and colleagues believe that

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

s, with their constantly improving technology, overhunted the large herbivores and led to their extinction and extirpation. Without herbivores grazing and trampling over the land, mosses, shrubs, and trees were able to take over and replace the grassland ecosystem. At Pleistocene Park, Zimov is attempting to re-create the

grasslands to demonstrate that the grasslands would have persisted into the

if humans did not overhunt the herds of Pleistocene herbivores that roamed and maintained the ecosystem. He has demonstrated that grasses take over the landscape 1–2 years after mosses are anthropogenically removed. According to Zimov, reintroducing large herbivores to Siberia would initiate a

positive feedback loop Positive feedback (exacerbating feedback, self-reinforcing feedback) is a process that occurs in a feedback loop which exacerbates the effects of a small disturbance. That is, the effects of a perturbation on a system include an increase in the ...

promoting the reestablishment of grassland ecosystems: "''The animals, their hooves, they disturb the moss and let grasses grow instead. The soil dries out, the animals deposit their fertilizer, the grass grows more, and more animals can graze''."Adam Fowler
"Siberian Window on the Ice Age."
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

'', 2 July 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2016. Current efforts in the park include reintroducing surviving Pleistocene megafauna into the fenced enclosure until they reach densities to change the vegetation and soil to a steppe grassland ecosystem. Pleistocene Park currently covers an area of and contains less than 100 large mammals representing six major herbivore species (horses, moose, reindeer, muskox, elk, and bison). Zimov's goal for Pleistocene Park is to increase the number of large herbivores to 20 per square kilometer before then reintroducing predators, including

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

s, and

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inh ...

s. In 2007 a 35-meter high flux tower was erected in the park which constantly monitors the levels of methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor and energy (temperature) in the park's atmosphere. The data among others contributes to the Global Monitoring Division of

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

's Earth System Research Lab.International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA)
"Pleistocene Park."
Without date. Retrieved 2 November 2016. Zimov’s concept of Pleistocene Park and repopulating the mammoth steppe is listed as one of the “100 most substantive solutions to global warming” by

Project Drawdown Climate drawdown refers to the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Drawdown is a milestone in reversing climate change and eventually reducing global ave ...

.Project Drawdown (w/o date)
“Repopulating the Mammoth Steppe.”
Retrieved 16 March 2017. The list, encompassing only technologically viable, existing solutions, was compiled by a team of over 200 scholars, scientists, policymakers, business leaders and activists;Book Passage (w/o date)
“Paul Hawken - Drawdown (San Rafael).”
Retrieved 16 March 2017.Project Drawdown homepage.
Retrieved 16 March 2017. for each solution the carbon impact through the year 2050, the total and net cost to society, and the total lifetime savings were measured and modelled.Project Drawdown (w/o date)
“Solutions.”
Retrieved 16 March 2017.Joel Makower (2014)
“Inside Paul Hawken’s audacious plan to ‘drawdown’ climate change.”
GreenBiz, 22 October 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2017.

Filmography

« L'hypothèse de Zimov » feature-length documentary (90 and 52 min) ; international co-production involving Arturo Mio, 13 Productions, ARTE France (France), Take Five, RTBF (Belgique) and Ethnofund (Russia). Film written and directed by Denis Sneguirev, in Russian and English; in post-production for a release scheduled for November 2021. (Film site; ARTE Germany)

Selected publications

* :: This paper estimates that 33-87% of high-latitude increases in atmospheric

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

originate from thermokarst lakes. It is suggested that sediments which have been frozen since the

, called

yedoma Yedoma (russian: едома) is an organic-rich (about 2% carbon by mass) Pleistocene-age permafrost with ice content of 50–90% by volume. Yedoma are abundant in the cold regions of eastern Siberia, such as northern Yakutia, as well as in Alas ...

, will have high methane-releasing potential as they thaw due to

. * :: This paper quantifies

emissions from thermokarst lakes in North

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. Most of the methane is sourced to thawing

from the lake margins. *
PDF
:: This essay outlines the concept behind Pleistocene Park, Sergei Zimov's research site in which he seeks to demonstrate that human overhunting of Pleistocene

megafauna In terrestrial zoology, the megafauna (from Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and New Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") comprises the large or giant animals of an area, habitat, or geological period, extinct and/or extant. The most common threshold ...

led to the disappearance of the Pleistocene's grassland-steppe ecosystem. * :: This paper suggests that increasing high-latitude ecological disturbances such as

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

s and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

contribute to the long-term increase in atmospheric

. * :: This paper contends that

represents a significant global

carbon sink A carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide () from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon si ...

. As

causes permafrost to thaw, the stored

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

will be released and amplify global climate change. * :: This paper identifies

-aged soils, referred to as

, as being a major

source for

emissions from thermokarst lakes in North Siberia.

References

External links

Person

* Dmitry Solovyov (2007)
"Arctic science outpost a refuge from the world."
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

'', Science News, 24 September 2007. Accessed 2 November 2016. * Eli Kintisch (2015)
"Born to rewild. A father and son's quixotic quest to bring back a lost ecosystem – and save the world."
In: ''

'', 4 December 2015, vol. 350, no. 6265, pp. 1148-1151.
Alternative version
on the

Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an American news media organization established in 2006 that sponsors independent reporting on global issues that other media outlets are less willing or able to undertake on their own. The center's goal ...

website.) Accessed 2 November 2016. * Roscongress (2016): "Sergey Zimov. Archaeoresuscitation." I
''Roscongress, Sochi 2016'', Special Edition of the International Investment Forum "Sochi 2016"
pp. 54–57 (pp. 56–59 of the PDF). Accessed 2 November 2016.

Projects

Official Pleistocene Park and Northeast Science Station Website

IASOA: Cherskii Observatory
*
IASOA: Northeast Science Station
*
IASOA: Pleistocene Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimov, Sergey Russian geophysicists Russian ecologists 1955 births Living people People from the Sakha Republic