Earth’s Cryosphere, 2024, Vol. XXVIII, No. 6, p. 49-56.

CLIMATE AND CRYOSPHERE

QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF EVAPORATION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATION IN CENTRAL YAKUTIA

V.N. Makarov1, A.F. Zhirkov1,*, V.P. Osipov2, S.A. Markova1

1 Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Merzlotnaya St. 36, Yakutsk, 677010 Russia
2 Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Miusskaya Sq. 4, Moscow, 125047 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: zhirkov_af@mail.ru

The results of a study of the relationship between evaporation from the soil surface and atmospheric precipitation during the warm seasons of 2015–2016 and 2019 at the Tuimaada geocryological research station in Central Yakutia are analyzed. Evaporation from the soil surface and the amount and chemical composition of precipitation were studied. The average evaporation was 1.37 (0.33–3.13) mm/day and exceeded precipitation by about 40%. The intensity of evaporation was especially high in the first month (May) of the warm season, which was associated with the thawing of frozen soil and the seepage of meltwater into the seasonally thawed layer. The bicarbonate calcium chemical composition of atmospheric precipitation during the summer remained stable, but the degree of mineralization decreased by 20–40% by autumn. The content of most chemical elements in precipitation was higher in May–June and decreased in the second half of the warm season. The greatest contrasts in the concentrations of chlorides, sulfates, sodium, and ammonium in the atmospheric precipitation were observed during the periods of maximum and minimum evaporation from the soil surface.

Keywords: atmospheric precipitation, evaporation, chemical composition of precipitation, frozen ground, permafrost zone.

Recommended citation: Makarov V.N., Zhirkov A.F., Osipov V.P., Markova S.A., 2024. Quantitative assessment of evaporation and chemical composition of atmospheric precipitation in Central Yakutia. Earth’s Cryosphere XXVIII (6), 49–56.

Received February 6, 2024
Revised November 3, 2024
Accepted November 6, 2024
Translated by A.V. Muravyev