Eastern Siberia permafrost transect (ESPT). A first stage: The Verkhoyansk Range part

Environmental and geomorphological processes in the mountainous areas of Eastern Siberia is strongly conditioned by the thermal state of permafrost (permanently frozen ground). However, the scarce data about climate and weak of permafrost study have led to the unclarity of mountain permafrost condition in this region. The increase in the mean annual air temperature over the past 50 years in the northeastern Siberia by various estimates is from 1.1°C to 3.3°C. So far, almost no information is available on the permafrost response to climatic changes in the region. The Kolyma Route (around 2000 km length), connecting Yakutsk and Magadan that crosses 5 climatic types and more than 10 permafrost landscapes, so it seems a suitable path for establishing basic (reference) monitoring sites. From 12 target boreholes, on the first stage 5 boreholes up to 30 m in depth were drilled and instrumented for measuring temperature at sites adjacent to weather stations in the Verkhoyansk Range from 283 to 1288 m a.s.l. Here we present conception, purpose, and methods for permafrost study project with first preliminary results from the highest weather station of the East Siberia Mountain. The following research about geophysical investigations, permafrost landscape description, mapping and spatial modelling, numerical computing, physical modelling of permafrost thickness might be initiated by the Eastern Siberia Permafrost Transect (ESPT)-project.