Integrated Background Monitoring of Environmental Pollution in Russia

摘要

The main purpose of this article is to present a description of the Integrated Background Monitoring Network (IBMoN) organized in the former USSR as a subsystem of the State Service of Observation and Monitoring of Environmental Pollution. The IBMoN stations are referred to as part of the UNEP Global Environmental Monitoring System. The main objective of the IBMoN is to determine the influence of anthropogenic activity on the environmental state at the regional and global levels and to detect trends of background pollution of different environments in areas remote from large emission sources. Correspondingly, the IBMoN stations in Russia are located in biosphere reserves. The program of measurements at the IBMoN stations is described in detail; it includes observations of background pollution of the air, precipitation, snow cover, soil, bottom sediments, and vegetation; procedures for taking and analyzing the air samples; and principles of collection and use of observational data. The results of observations are transmitted to the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, where they are stored in a special computerized database and are used to prepare official publications and research studies. The background observations are shown to be important if the anthropogenic loading on the unique natural complexes of the Caucasus biosphere reserve increases in the course of preparation for the 22nd Winter Olympic Games of 2014.