OUR TEAM
What We Do
The PRISMARCTYC consortium gathers together scientists of various scientific disciplines, expertise, gender and nationality. The strength is the multidisciplinary and complementary approach to study the impacts of permafrost degradation in the Arctic. It comprises researchers with expertise in quantitative geomorphology, remote sensing, hydrology, geochemistry, ecology, greenhouse gasses, microbiology, cultural anthropology, climate change education and soil sciences. The recognized expertise of the different members on the different key study areas in Siberia and Alaska further strengthens the consortium. Four different countries are involved: France, Russia, USA and Japan.
Where We Are
Who We Are
Alexandra Lavrillier, a social anthropologist (WP4 leader et WP6 co-leader), studies traditional ecological knowledge, traditional economics, landscape management, perception of Nature, ethnolinguistics, and the adaptations to environmental changes among the Evenki, Even, Nanai, and Sakha. From 2013 she coordinated several community-based observatories of climate and environmental changes, and interdisciplinary projects (ANR and French Polar Institute funded).
Frédéric Thalasso is a specialist in limnology, with a special emphasis on GHG. He will support the application of high-throughput methods in aquatic ecosystems, for the determination of GHG emissions, dissolved gas concentration and mass balance, and methanotrophic/methanogenic microbial activities (WP3).
Laure Gandois is a biogeochemist, with extensive experience studying carbon cycling in soils and peatlands in diverse contexts including Boreal and Arctic environments. She is in charge of the biogeochemical survey of peatlands in the Pyrenees in the frame of national and European projects. She has conducted extensive field campaigns in the Russian Arctic in the framework of European and National projects. She will co-lead WP2, participate in WP3, design and participate in fieldwork.
Maialen Barret is a microbial ecologist. Her research activities focus on the impact of anthropic disturbances on the structure and function of microbial communities. M. Barret is experienced in molecular biology methodologies and collaborates with biogeochemists to investigate methane cycling. She has expertise on methane-linked microbial communities in high-latitude ecosystems (Siberia, Alaska, Patagonia). She co-coordinated the METHANOBASE project (ERANet-LAC program, 2015-2018) which will allow for inter-site comparisons. She will co-lead WP3, design and participate in fieldwork, conduct molecular biology analyses and bioinformatic analyses.
Roman Teisseren focuses on the dynamic and fate of natural OM in the Arctic. He is head of the Physico-Chemical analysis platform at Ecolab and coordinator of an INP, Siberian Federal University network. He will participate in WP2.
Ludwig Jardillier is an expert in microbial ecology to unravel the microbial diversity, understanding the processes that structure the microbial diversity and, in return, to identify the role played by microorganisms in the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. He will participate in the study of microbial diversity structure and GHG fluxes (WP3).
Antoine Séjourné is a geomorphologist specialist of Siberia. His research focuses on geomorphological quantification of thermokarst with remote sensing and drones. He is leading a long-term monitoring of permafrost dynamics from the study of development of thermokarst lakes and thaw slumps that impact the water transfers and soils (WP1). He is the Lead PI of the project.
Frédéric Bouchard is a researcher through the ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ program. His research focuses on the interactions between ice-rich permafrost thawing (thermokarst) and the release of greenhouse gasses by aquatic ecosystems. He will co-chair WP3, participate in WP2 (fieldwork sampling) and WP6.
Christelle Marlin is a hydrogeologist and geochemist specialist with great experience in glacier and permafrost hydrology/hydrogeology. She has led and co-led several scientific projects in Svalbard on the consequence of climate change upon the water balance compounds of glacierized hydrosystems. As a specialist of surface and groundwater interaction and groundwater dating (radiocarbon), she will bring her skills to WP2.
François Costard is a geomorphologist specialist of modeling and laboratory simulation of fluvial-thermal erosional and thermokarst processes under periglacial environment. He was the leader of a former ANR-07-VULN-002 CLIMAFLU project about the impact of Lena river ice break-ups and their temporal variability. He will participate in WP1.
Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis is an expert in microbial ecology, taxonomy and comparative genomics. He will study the metabarcoding analysis (DNA and RNA) and metagenomic analysis of about two dozen samples (WP3) based on external funding. He will support WP3 with bioinformatic analysis of the resulting omics data.
Masato Furuya is an expert in geophysical applications of geodetic radar remote sensing. He is a PI of JAXA’s ALOS-2 (Advanced Land Observation Satellite-2) Research Announcement and also a member of the calibration and validation team of JAXA’s forthcoming radar satellite ALOS-4 that is planned to be launched in 2021. He will participate in WP1 by generating ground deformation maps due to permafrost thaw and frost heave. Kazuki Yanagiya is a PhD candidate mentored by Furuya.
Aleksei Lupachev is a senior researcher studying permafrost soils in both Arctic and Antarctic environments, the effects of cryogenic processes on soil development, and drivers and features of soil organic matter redistribution in permafrost soils and its accumulation in transient layer. He will co-lead WP1 and manage field works in Chersky.
Urania Christaki is a microbial ecologist, with expertise in microbial trophodynamics, ranging from bacterial activities to the feeding selectivity of protozoa, and to the relationships of microbes with higher trophic levels and biogeochemistry. She uses classical and molecular tools to explore microbial diversity in a functional and ecological context. She will participate in WP3 (organisation, field work, analysis).
Maria Cherbunina is a geocryologist who participate in WP3 to study GHG content and fluxes from terrestrial permafrost (field and laboratory works). She has been involved in comprehensive research in Central Yakutia since 2014. The main subjects of research: landscape-permafrost conditions, geological structure, microbial composition and properties of sediments, the content of organic matter and methane.
Nikita Tananaev studies hydrological processes in permafrost, tracer hydrology applications in permafrost hydrology research, and interactions between hydromorphologic and cryogenic processes in periglacial geomorphology. He is a PI of a RFBR-funded project studying permafrost-groundwater interaction in changing climate of Central Yakutia. He is currently chairing the Water and Climate Change Working Group of the Northern Forum. He will co-lead WP2, design and participate in fieldwork.
Léa Cabrol is a microbial ecologist that studied the functional role of microbial communities in biogeochemical cycles, at the frontier between anthropic and natural ecosystems, especially in extreme and/or contaminated environments. She co-coordinated the METHANOBASE project (ERANet-LAC program, 2015-2018) which will allow for inter-site comparisons. She uses molecular and bioinformatic tools for microbial diversity characterization, as well as biochemical approaches for activity determination in microcosms and bioreactors. She will participate in WP3 for field work, laboratory analysis and results analysis.
Liudmila Krivenok has a specialist degree in soil physics, she has vast experience in processing data of GHG fluxes, including eddy covariance, as well as fieldwork experience.
Vladimir Kazantsev has a PhD in ecology, he specializes in field measurements of CH4 emissions from lakes and wetlands, and data processing. They will participate in WP3.
Lydie Lescarmontier is a climate scientist specialized in glaciology. Her main missions are to coordinate the collaborative production of Summaries for teachers of IPCC reports, and to support local school projects working on climate change. She will co-lead WP6.
David Wilgenbus is an astrophysicist by training (head of OCE) has an expertise in the production of educational materials and the professional development of teachers.
Both will participate in WP6 for the production of education materials, training of teachers and animation of the exchanges between classes.
Stakeholders
The secondary school of Syrdakh (Sakha) is engaged in the project (WP4-6) with the involvement of teachers Galina Burtseva and Marianna Petrova. The secondary school of Nizhny Bestyakh (Sakha) is engaged in the project with the involvement of teacher Anna Andreeva.
The two primary schools of Chatenay Malabry (France) are involved in the project (WP6) with the involvement of teachers Catherine Abafour et Isabelle Dutronc.
The association of ecological education EYGE (Sakha) will participate in WP1, 4 & 6 through assistance in community-based monitoring, with the involvement of director Valentina Dmitrieva.
The indigenous herders and farmers will be heavily involved in the research project and publication.
Go Iwahana is an expert in the studies of frozen ground dynamics and geochemical analyses of permafrost. He will lead field measurements and soil sample analyses in WP1 and co-lead in WP6. For the synthesis work in WP6, he will bring his past and current results of project-related studies in Alaska for an inter-site comparison.
Nic Jelinski (Univ. of Minnesota) is a soil scientist who participates in WP1 to study the genesis and properties of permafrost-affected soils and quantifying rates of soil movement due to freeze-thaw processes and document carbon stocks.