TASS, July 31. The Petrozavodsk State University's scientists began working on the White Sea coast jointly with experts of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The expedition is supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation - Reserves and dynamics of blue carbon in the coastal zone of seas in the Russian Arctic's western sector, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education said.

Another two expeditions are due in August. They will go to the White Sea coast in the Murmansk Region, and to the Kara Sea coast.

Specialists refer "blue" to carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems. The scientists, participating in the expedition, want to find out what geomorphological and soil-forming processes affect carbon's net balance, and want to assess the dynamics of atmospheric carbon uptake by the biomass of coastal plant communities.

"During the first expedition, scientists from the Petrozavodsk State University will receive data on the biomass, its growth, and the ecosystems dynamics on the White Sea coast. They will take more than 200 measurements of dry and raw biomass of various species at different points, will classify the coastal vegetation. <...> They will develop a mathematical model of periodic flooding and the salt stress affecting plants and microorganisms, as well as carbon brought with water from the land and its loss due to coastal erosion," the ministry's press service said.

"The created model may be used to calculate the potential uptake of carbon by coastal wetlands of the Arctic Ocean's sea shores under various climatic scenarios. One of the simulated scenarios will be a possible flooding of coastal areas due to the rising sea level in global warming. These data will be extrapolated to coastal areas of the Russian Arctic's entire western part, by using the coastal classification based on available satellite images," said Lyudmila Sergienko, Professor of the Botany and Plant Physiology Department, and leader of the Petrozavodsk State University's scientific group.