Sergey Aphanasievich Zimov (; born 18 July 1955) is a Russian geophysicist who specialises in arctic and subarctic ecology. He is the Director of Northeast Scientific Station (a research institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences), 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 caused Siberia's grassland-steppe ecosystem to disappear and for raising awareness as to the important roles permafrost and thermokarst lakes play in the global carbon cycle.

According to a colleague, Sergey Zimov is the most cited Russian earth scientist.Dr. Igor Petrovich Semiletov (IARC resume ), Head of the Laboratory of Geochemistry in the Polar Regions at the Pacific Oceanological Institute in Vladivostok and representative of the FED RAS at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in an interview in 2011. See Елизавета Понарина (Elizabeta Ponarina), "Парниковое дыхание Арктики. Деградация подводной мерзлоты Восточно-Сибирского шельфа как причина возможных будущих быстрых климатических изменений." 30 December 2011, retrieved from the archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2 November 2016.

Life and work

Sergey 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, Russia. He studied and received his degree in geophysics from Far East State University, located in Vladivostok, Russia.Sergey A. Zimov: "Pleistocene Park: Return of the Mammoth's Ecosystem." Science, 6 May 2005, vol. 308, no. 5723, pp. 796–798.

Zimov founded the Northeast Science Station 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 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 at eScholarship, UC.) Retrieved 3 November 2016.

Professional career

Northeast Science Station

Sergey 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.“Far Eastern Federal University may open Arctic campus at major polar station.” Arctic.Ru, 5 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017 Located near Cherskii, Russia on the mouth of the Kolyma River, 150 kilometers south of the Arctic Ocean, the station serves as a year-round base for international Arctic research.

In collaboration with Dr. Terry Chapin and Dr. Katey Walter-Anthony, Sergey Zimov has published a collection of scientific papers exposing the importance of permafrost and high-latitude carbon dioxide and methane emissions in the global carbon cycle. These papers identified methane ebullition from thermokarst lakes to be a significant source of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas.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.

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 herbivores maintained the Pleistocene tundra steppe and that overhunting by humans caused both the animals and Pleistocene ecosystem to vanish.

At Pleistocene Park, Zimov is attempting to re-create the Pleistocene grasslands to demonstrate that the grasslands would have persisted into the Holocene 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.

Selected publications

This paper estimates that 33-87% of high-latitude increases in atmospheric methane originate from thermokarst lakes. It is suggested that sediments which have been frozen since the Pleistocene, called yedoma, will have high methane-releasing potential as they thaw due to climate change.

This paper quantifies methane emissions from thermokarst lakes in North Siberia. Most of the methane is sourced to thawing permafrost 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 led to the disappearance of the Pleistocene's grassland-steppe ecosystem.

This paper suggests that increasing high-latitude ecological disturbances such as fires and grazing contribute to the long-term increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

This paper contends that permafrost represents a significant global carbon sink. As climate change causes permafrost to thaw, the stored carbon will be released and amplify global climate change.

This paper identifies Pleistocene-aged soils, referred to as yedoma, as being a major carbon source for methane emissions from thermokarst lakes in North Siberia.

References

External links Official Pleistocene Park and Northeast Science Station Website