HSE University Co-Organises Major International Event on Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

From August 12 to 19, 2026, the international scientific event «Greenhouse Gas Fluxes: Current Issues in Modern Research» was held in Moscow and the Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve. It included a conference, a field seminar, and a summer school. The International Laboratory of Landscape Ecology of the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics co-organized the event and actively participated in its scientific and field program

International Conference in Moscow

On August 12–13, the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted an international conference dedicated to modern methods for studying greenhouse gas fluxes, the carbon cycle, and energy exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. The conference brought together a wide range of Russian researchers and scientists from international research centers. The scientific program included papers by researchers from India, China, and Vietnam.

Researchers from Vietnam presented the results of using field measurements and remote sensing to estimate the aboveground biomass of mangrove forests. Presentations by Indian participants examined the exchange of carbon, water, and energy between the biosphere and atmosphere in South Asia, as well as the carbon balance of forest ecosystems in the Central Himalayas. Chinese researchers presented the results of the development and validation of a high-resolution hydrobiogeochemical model of greenhouse gas fluxes and a study of the response of ecosystem carbon, water, and energy fluxes to droughts. Thus, the conference program allowed for a comparison of research results obtained in various natural and climatic conditions—from boreal forests and wetlands in Russia to ecosystems in South and East Asia.

One notable focus of the program was the spatial analysis of ecological and climatic observations – a research area of ​​the International Laboratory of Landscape Ecology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Robert Sandlersky, Head of the Laboratory, presented a paper titled "Representativeness of ECS Placement Based on Geodata: Machine Learning or Zoning?" This paper examines a fundamental issue for the development of ecological and climate monitoring networks: how representative is the area where a measuring station is located of the surrounding territory and how spatial analysis and machine learning methods can be used to assess this representativeness. Andrey Sogachev, a leading researcher at the Laboratory, presented a paper titled "Estimating the Spatial Footprint of Ground-Based Measurements Using the Eddy Covariance Method for Ecological and Climate Stations." A spatial footprint characterizes the territory that, under specific meteorological conditions, generates the turbulent exchange between the ecosystem and the atmosphere measured by the station. Its assessment is necessary for the accurate comparison of instrumental observations with the structure of the surrounding landscape and remote sensing data. Demid Vasilenko, a research intern at the Moscow Institute of Forestry and Environmental Management, presented a poster paper titled "Development of Methods for Integrating Measuring Systems of Ecological and Climate Stations and Remote Sensing Data: The Case of the Central Forest Reserve." The study aims to combine ground-based measurements and satellite information for spatial analysis of ecosystem structure and functioning. Three papers share a common research logic: from identifying the territory directly influencing the readings of an individual station to assessing the spatial representativeness of the observation network and integrating ground-based measurements with remote sensing data.

On August 14 and 15, the scientific program of the Conference continued at the Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve in the Tver Region: conference participants were introduced to the Reserve's typical ecosystems and the ecological and climatic stations located within them.

Field School in the Central Forest Reserve

The choice of the site for the school is closely linked to the long history of ecological-climatic and landscape-ecological research. Monitoring the carbon balance of forest ecosystems has been conducted here since the late 1990s. The reserve and its buffer zone host ecological-climatic stations located in various natural environments: a bilberry-sphagnum spruce forest, a complex spruce forest, the Staroselsky Mokh raised bog, and a cleared area of ​​former spruce forest. For the school participants, this area became a kind of field laboratory, where methods for measuring greenhouse gas fluxes could be studied directly at sites of long-term monitoring.

As part of the school, Robert Sandlersky led field trips to sites of long-term landscape-ecological research. Participants learned about the natural-territorial structure of the studied landscapes and discussed how long-term field observations, landscape mapping materials, and data from ecological-climatic stations can be combined to interpret measured matter and energy flows. The school's field routes included ecological-climatic stations in various ecosystem types, the Staroselsky Mokh bog, the Okovsky Forest research station of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other sites of long-term study in the area.

The educational program was structured around four main areas: processing primary data from ecological-climatic stations and calculating fluxes; the design and operation of automated measuring systems; filtering, filling, and interpreting data; and chamber measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes. Participants attended lectures from leading experts, learned about the eddy covariance method, worked with equipment and data from ecological-climatic stations, and completed practical assignments in groups. The final stage was the preparation of research projects in the chosen areas and their presentation at a final mini-conference.