Abstract: The subject of this article is exmination of the influence of the Arctic air flow on the climatic conditions of the winter period in the center of the European territory of Russia (Moscow). In recent years, the question of the relationship between regional climatic conditions and such global circulation patterns as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Arctic Oscillation (AK) has become increasingly important. Based on the data of long-term observations of temperature and precipitation, the relationship with the AK and NAO was considered. For the winter months of the period 2014-2018, the back trajectories of the movement of air masses were computed for each date of precipitation to identify the sources of precipitation. The amount of winter precipitation that forms the snow cover of Moscow has no connection with either the North Atlantic Oscillation or the Arctic Oscillation. The Moscow region is located at the intersection of the zones of influence of positive and negative phases of both cyclonic patterns (AK and NAO), which determine the weather in the Northern Hemisphere. For the winter months, a correlation between the surface air temperature and NAO (r = 0.72) and AK (r = 0.66) was established. Winter precipitation in the center of the European territory of Russiais mainly associated with the unloading of Atlantic air masses. Arctic air masses relatively rarely invade Moscow region and bring little precipitation (their contribution does not exceed 12% of the total winter precipitation).

Abstract: A review of published isotopic data on Yamal Peninsula massive ice near Marre-Sale polar station showed that there is a number of difficulties in indicating the genesis of the ice formation. The published data of δ18О and δ2Н of sea water in the Yamal Peninsula coast are disconnect to idea of participation of this sea water as a water source for ice formation. Comparison with the correct δ18О and δ2Н values of waters of the Barents Sea made it possible to establish the process of mixing seawater with isotopically light precipitation and showed that seawater was involved in the formation of ice. Another difficulty was the erroneous idea of ice formation in a closed system. Formation of ice occurred in an open system with a large amount of free water. Massive ice was most likely formed at the clay-sand boundary from free water, which in large quantities entered the sandy aquifer from lake talik. The water in the lake at the first stage was a mixture of sea and atmospheric waters, and then it was desalinated. The process of desalination and isotope depletion of lake water is responsible for a decrease in the δ18О and δ2Н values of ice with depth.

Abstract: The processes of isotope fractionation inside the snow cover during the formation of infiltration ice (ice interlayers, crusts) are considered. On the temperate glacier zones of infiltration, ice formations are very common, and an understanding of the processes of isotopic transformation during snow-ice transition is important for distinguishing the type of ice formation. In addition to recrystallization transformation of snow into ice on the glaciers, the formation of infiltration and superimposed ice occurs, which should be accompanied by isotopic fractionation due to the difference in the fractionation coefficients between vapor and liquid/ice (precipitation) and liquid and ice (congelation ice formation). A field experiment was performed on the formation of infiltration ice inside a snow column with artificial stimulation of snow melting from the surface. The main method was the study of the isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen of snow and ice. Primary snow was homogenized, after a 14-day experiment inside the snow columns, a differentiation of snow by the isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen occurred. The values of δ18О and δD are described by a regression equation with a slope 5. Such slope indicates water vapor diffusion processes. Infiltration ice on the isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen is slightly different from the original snow.

Abstract: The article discusses variations in the values of δ18O, δ2H, dexc of snow on Krasnaya Polyana, the southern slope of Elbrus and on the transect from Konosha to the Polar Urals. In each of the described snowfalls, the deuterium excess is a unique isotope mark of the prevailing process involved in the formation of the isotope composition of the snow cover. To interpret the values of obtained isotopes, we used the method of back trajectories by the HYSPLIY model. The main goal of the work is to demarcate the main processes responsible for the formation of the isotope composition of snow. On the Aibga slope in Caucasus, there is addition of a continental water vapor on the southern slope of Elbrus – wind erosion, and isotope fractionation during condensation in a single snowfall from Konosha to the Polar Urals. The back trajectories of air mass movement help considering in more detail the formation of the isotope composition of individual snowfalls.

Abstract: The subject of the study is the distribution of oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes and the variations of the deuterium excess in snow and glaciers of the Polar Urals and massive ice of the south of the Yamal Peninsula and the coast of Baydaratskaya Bay. The isotope composition of winter snow and ice of the glacier No. 1, and the glacier of the Romantics was studied in the Polar Urals. On the south of the Yamal Peninsula, the isotopic characteristics of the massive ice in the valley of the Erkutayakha River, Oyuyakha River and at the mouth of the Sabettayakha River were analyzed. The massive ice of the autochthonous type should differ significantly in the isotopic composition of the ice from the buried ice. Isotopic characteristics of massive ice are a good tool for studying the conditions of the ice formation, which is due to the processes of isotope fractionation of oxygen and hydrogen during phase transitions, while the fractionation factor of vapor-water and water-ice transitions are determined by temperature. Variations of stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in massive ice and the δ2H -d-excess ratio are used as a diagnostic tool to determine the type of ice formation. In winter snow of the Polar Urals higher values of isotope composition is recorded with depth increase, reflecting the seasonality of snow accumulation. Very high values of the deuterium excess are recorded - from 14.3 to 19 ‰, the average value was 16.9 ‰. Values of the deuterium excess are distributed in antiphase with the distribution of heavy oxygen and hydrogen with depth. The values of δ18О in the ice of the glacier №1 range from -12.6 ‰ to -16.03 ‰, δ2H - from -96.7 ‰ to -115.1 ‰. The values of the deuterium excess in the ice of the glacier No. 1 are rather low, averaging 6-7 ‰, the highest value of d-excess is 13.1 ‰ the minimum value of d-excess = 4.7 ‰. For glacier ice No. 1, a negative slope δ2H-d-excess is noted, indicating congelation ice formation in a closed system (i.e., a limited volume of water). This can occur when a certain volume of thawed water in pores of the firn, when the firn mass, saturated with thawed water, turns into ice. The Romantik Glacier occupies in δ2H-d-excess ratio an intermediate position between the atmospheric precipitation (snow cover) and the ice of the glacier No. 1.Variations of stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in the massive ice on the Erkutayaha River in the southern part of the Yamal Peninsula are significant, and the δ2H-d-excess ratio is an evidence of mostly intra-soil injection ice formation, i.e. freezing of a limited volume of free water. The δ2H-d-excess ratios for massive ice at the mouth of the Oyuyakha River at the coast of Baydaratskaya Bay evidences that a powerful ice body could have been formed when a large volume of water was frozen in a closed system, as can be seen from the trend of decreasing of δ18O values down from the top. The non-explicit expression of the negative correlation of δ2H to d-excess may be due to the fact that the source of moisture was the surface water evaporated, or was characterized by less isotope fractionation than the theoretical one. The values of d-excess in ice are from 8.4 to -2.3 ‰ and indicate rather the intra-soil formation of ice. Variation of the δ2H-d-excess ratio in ice formation is an additional tool for diagnostic studies of massive ice genesis and types of ice formation.

Abstract: The authors of the present work consider heavy metals content in the snow cover and glacial ice of the Polar Urals and the vicinity of the Mt. Elbrus region (Central Caucasus). In order to define the background hydrochemical constitution of the snow cover of the Polar Ural region in 1999, the authors study three snowfields, near the Polar Ural village, 2.5 km and 5 km from it; in the winter of 2003 near the Polarny settlement the authors explored the structure of the snow layer in the trial pit. In 2000, a small glacier (Glacier No.1) located in the on the slope of the southern aspect, was studied on the slope of the Small Paipudynsky ridge. In the Central Caucasus, studies were carried out on the glacier of Garabashi in the southern slope of Elbrus, the snow layers were studied during the summer and winter seasons: in the summer of 1998, in January 2001 and in June 2001. Glacier ice of the Greater Azau glacier was also studied. Analytic measurements of the trace elements content (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn) were performed by atomic absorption spectroscopy at the V.V.Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute. The concentrations of trace elements in snow and glacial ice of the Polar Urals are small, averaging 0.005 to 0.02 mg / l, among the measured Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, the highest concentrations are typical for Mn (up to 0.05 mg / l). An insignificant increase in the concentrations of heavy metals in the winter snow-summer snow-glacial ice series was noted. Dependences of the concentration of heavy metals on the morphological species of ice were not detected. For the snow cover and the glacial ice of Garabashi glacier and the adjacent slope there is also a certain tendency of increasing concentrations in the winter snow series to summer surface snow and to infiltration ice. The main minor elements in the snow and ice of the Garabashi glacier in the Caucasus are zinc and iron, the concentrations of which range from less than 0.02 to 0.6 mg / l (iron in infiltration ice) and from 0.01 to 0.22 in ice. The maximum content of heavy metals is confined to the horizons of infiltration ice. In seasonal winter and summer snow, the concentrations of almost all measured trace elements range from less than 0.01 to 0.03 mg / l. In the ice of the Big Azau glacier in the Elbrus region, the concentrations of trace elements are extremely low (less than 0.005 mg / l).

Abstract: The authors study the formation of isotope-oxygen composition of a snow mantle of Bratsk and the fresh snow in Baikal region and define the main trajectories of air masses, bringing precipitation to the city of Bratsk during the cold seasons. The research area covers the city of Bratsk and the points in Irkutsk region – the village Khidiakovo (18 km from Irkutsk), the village Kultuk on the southern coast of the lake Baikal, the mountain Snezhnaya of the route Irkutsk–Bolshoye Goloustnoye and the Tunkin valley in the Republic of Buryatia. The authors register the exceeded content of sodium (4-66 times) in the city snow mantle samples compared with the background snow mantle. Though the man-caused origin of sodium in snow is obvious, the natural causes are also possible. It can be brought by air masses, for example, from the Arctic coast. The study is aimed at this hypothesis testing. The research methods include the isotope method (assessment of the content of stable oxygen-18 in snow, both fresh and settled) and the reverse trajectory method, based on the Semi-Lagrangian scheme HYSPLIT for the period from December 2015 till March 2016 with the end points at the altitude of 3000m at 12 UTC. The average ratio of oxygen-18 content (expressed in the δ-ratio as the content of heavy oxygen in relation to the standard) in the snow mantle in Bratsk was -26, 54‰ in March 2015. Inside the snowpack the δ-rates vary from the horizon to the horizon from -21,52 to 28,1‰. It is considered as a relatively “heavy” isotope-oxygen composition. The authors find out that the influence of the Arctic air masses on the isotope composition of the snow mantle in Bratsk is quite insignificant. Of 44 precipitation days for the period from December 2015 till March 2016, 21 case was connected with the western air-mass transport from the Arctic, 5 cases were connected with the moisture coming from the Arctic sector, 15 cases – with the continental source and 3 cases – with the Sea of Okhotsk.