I. N. Mordvintsev

Russian Academy of Sciences | RAS · Cabinet of remote sensing methods in ecology

We analyzed population genetic structure of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in the Russian Arctic based on samples collected in 2010–2021. For 93 adult individuals, we report polymorphism of 17 nuclear DNA microsatellite loci and a 610 nucleotide long mtDNA D-loop fragment. High genetic diversity of nuclear DNA and low nucleotide diversity π for mitoc...

Population genetic structure in polar bear (Ursus maritimus) from model areas in the Russian Arctic is considered based on materials collected in the period 2010–2021. Data on polymorphism of 17 microsatellite loci of nuclear DNA and a 610 nucleotide long mtDNA D-loop fragment were obtained for 93 animals. For the studied sample of adult polar bear...

The Polar bear’s seropositivity from the Barents Sea subpopulation to a number of pathogens was analyzed: Canine distemper virus, Herpes simplex virus, Parvovirus, Toxoplasma, Trichinella (Trichinella sp.), Mycoplasma (Mycoplasma sp.), Candida (Candida sp.) and Chlamydia (Chlamydia sp.). Seropositive animals have been identified for Canine distempe...

Climate changes cause a dramatical increase in the ice-free season in the Arctic, forcing polar bears ashore, closer to human settlements associated with new and non-natural food objects. Such a diet may crucially transform the intestinal microbiome and metabolism of polar bears. The aim of this study was to characterize changes in the gut bacteria...

The ability of the polar bear (U. maritimus) to kill and consume conspecifics is accepted, but the reasons behind this behavior and its prevalence remain unclear. Here, we report 14 cases of intraspecific killing, cannibalism, and aggressive behaviors among polar bears observed in seven instances in the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea on Frans-Josef L...

A polar bear female (Ursus maritimus) was captured and marked by satellite collar of the Argos system on Vaygach Island. Data of location relative to the coastline in the Kara Gate from April 2016 to September 2017 was analyzed. An analysis of the polar bear trajectory revealed periods of its greater (when on ice) and less (on land) mobility and di...

full text link: https://rdcu.be/bKxIf ----- The data on the content of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the blood samples of polar bears obtained in the present study confirm that polar bears in the Taimyr region (and the Kara-Barents sea population in general) are partly dependent on the resources of terrestrial origin. However the "terrestrial car...

The polar bear movement trajectory in relation to onset date of the sea-ice break-up was studied in the coastal zone of the Taimyr Peninsula, eastern part of the Kara Sea, using as an example a female polar bear tagged by a radio collar with an Argos satellite transmitter. Analysis of the long-term pattern of ice melting and tracking, by means of s...

The behavior of polar bear females with cubs on the isolated terrestrial area of Alexandra Land Island (the Franz-Josef Land Archipelago) was studied during the ice-free period in the autumn of 2011 using Argos sat- ellite telemetry and the data of ground observations. The animals' home range and habitat selection analyses were supplemented with th...

The polar bear inhabits mainly the Arctic sea ice, where it moves and hunts. The study of polar bear movements aimed mostly at determining the bear seasonal habitats and evaluating the size of its home ranges. However, the ice where the polar bear lives is drifting, and the ice drift have a substantial influence on the trajectory of animal relocati...

The summer minimum of the Arctic sea ice area and extent have been estimated for 2011 using satellite passive microwave data. Compared with sea ice conditions during the satellite era (1979 to the present), the Arctic ice cap is close in size to the absolute minimum recorded in 2007. However, the spatial distribution of sea ice at the end of summer...

In this study we examined relationships between vegetation phenology and the physical environment across the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere between 1982 and 2007. Spatial correlation, principal component analysis, and canonical correlation analisys—all linear techniques—were applied to monthly time series of the Normalized Difference Veget...

Analysis of serum prevalence of antibodies to six pathogens was performed in 26 polar bears from the Barents Sea population. Animals seropositive for the viruses of pseudorabies, canine distemper, and influenza A, Dirofilaria sp., Trichinella spiralis, and Toxoplasma gondii were revealed, with prevalence of antibodies to T. spiralis being the highe...

The possibility of using modern systems of remote sensing in the optical range from high spatial resolution satellites for detection of marine mammals and traces of their activity is investigated. An image obtained by the GeoEye satellite within the FEAC project was used for the analysis. The image covers Herald Island and adjacent waters, which ar...

The main results of processing the long-term satellite data in different spectral ranges and with different spatial resolutions used to map Arctic sea ice parameters are presented. The advantages of the methods developed in order to estimate these parameters on the basis of microwave sensor measurements are indicated. The specific features of the l...

Presented are the data on the walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, sightings during four scheduled cruises of the research-expedition vessel "Mikhail Somov" in the Barents, Kara and Laptev seas (August-November, 2010; September-October, 2011; November-December 2011; and July-October 2012) and during the expedition on the "Polyaris" motor-vessel in August-Sep...

We examined broad-scale relationships between vegetation phenology and the physical environment across the Northern Hemisphere between 1982 and 2007 by applying linear correlation, principal component, and canonical correlation analyses to monthly time-series of NDVI (AVHRR), sea ice distribution (SSMR-SSM/I), and 850 mb air temperature (NCEP) indi...

Sea ice age is estimated and mapped using ice motion data to follow pixels of ice forward through time while maintaining an age-class distribution function (ADF) within each pixel. During January 1979 - December 2006, ice motion vectors are applied to move the entire area of ice-covered pixels at monthly time-steps for up to 121 months. After each...

New techniques are presented for estimating and mapping melt pond fraction and all-sky broadband surface albedo using passive microwave brightness temperatures and estimates of sea ice concentration, age, and thickness. The method is based on non-linear parameterization of NSIDC AVHRR Polar Pathfinder broadband albedo and melt pond fraction. The la...

This study evaluates methods to improve a recently developed neural network (NN) algorithm that estimates sea ice thickness with spatial resolution nearby 100 km at monthly intervals during 1982 - 2003 (Belchansky et al., accepted, J. Climate). For any grid cell, at each position along its drift trajectory, sea ice thickness changes are controlled...

Accurate calculation of the time of melt onset, freeze onset, and melt duration over Arctic sea-ice area is crucial for climate and global change studies because it affects accuracy of surface energy balance estimates. This comparative study evaluates several methods used to estimate sea-ice melt and freeze onset dates: (1) the melt onset database...

Three ice-type classification methods utilizing SSM/I passive microwave data were compared. Each applied a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network (NN) with OKEAN (radar and passive microwave) sea-ice learning data, a different learning algorithm based on, respectively, error back propagation and simulated annealing (M1), dynamic learning and po...

A comparative analysis is made of seasonal differences in estimates of sea ice concentrations in the regions of the Barents, Kara, and Laptev seas and the adjoining Arctic Ocean during the period 1995-1999 using SSM/I, Okean-01, and Radarsat data and applying the NASA Team, linear mixture, and segmentation model classification algorithms. Seasonal...

Investigating new methods to estimate sea-ice geophysical parameters using multisensor satellite data is critical for global change studies. The most widely used and consistent data to study sea ice at global scale are SMMR and SSM/I passive microwave measurements available since 1978. However, comparisons with LANDSAT, AVHRR and ERS-1 SAR have dem...

The melting events (early melt, melt onset, melt ponding, freeze-up onset) over Arctic sea-ice area are critical for climate and global change studies. They are combined with accuracy of surface energy balances estimates (due to contrasts in the short wave albedo of snow and ice, open water or melt ponds) and drives a number of important processes...

The statistical characteristics of the seasonal and geographical variability of the specific effective target cross-section (SETC) of open water, multiyear and first-year sea ice in the Barents, Karsk and Laptev Seas and the adjacent Arctic Ocean are obtained for radar data for the satellites 'Okean-01' no. 7 and no. 8 (X-band, VV polarization), ac...

This report represents comparative analysis of nearly coincident Russian OKEAN-01 polar orbiting satellite data, Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery. OKEAN-01 ice concentration algorithms utilize active and passive microwave measurements and a linear mixture model for measured values...

Trends in the annual minimum, minimum monthly-mean, and the sea ice extent at the end of August were investigated for the Barents and western Kara Seas and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean during 1966 to 1994 using data from Russian ice maps (1974-1994), Kosmos-Okean and ALMAZ SAR satellite series (1984-1994), and published literature. Four defin...

Trends in the annual minimum sea-ice extent, determined by three criteria (absolute annual minimum, minimum monthly mean, and the extent at the end of August), were investigated for the Barents and western Kara seas and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean during 1984–1993. Four definitions of ice extent were examined, based on thresholds of ice conc...

The paper shows the brief report on the use of the satellite telemetry and of the geoinformation systems in the USA for the studies of the ecology of the mammals in the polar regions. It also discusses the approaches of the studies of the biological diversity by using the data obtained from both the satellite and the ground observations. -Authors

The review of satellite telemetry and Geographic Information Systems application for large mammals ecology investigating in USA is presented. Some aspects of biodiversity research by using of integrated remote sensing and ground truth data are considered.

The paper discusses the results of research to create a system for integrated processing of data from satellites of the Okean series (MSU M, SLR, RM 08) to classify the vegetation of boreal forests, based on the use of forest-resources geoinformation systems (GIS). The paper describes the automated classification technology using various classifica...

Results of a software development are presented for the 'Okean' spaceborne data complex processing (MSU-M, SLR, RM-08) to classify boreal forest vegetation using forest geoinformation system (GIS). Automatized methods of classification is proposed for different systems of classification and logic of data processing and for different combination of...

The paper describes the results of research to develop software to process data from the side-looking radar of Okean spacecraft to study boreal forests using forest-resource databases and geoinformation systems. The paper analyses the results of vegetation classification for a number of sessions. -Authors

The paper presents software development results for 'OKEAN' satellite-looking radar data processing for boreal forests studied using data bases of forest geographic information systems (GIS). The results of vegetation classification are analysed for a number of transmission sessions. It is shown that the general accuracy of classification is 70.6 %...