As noted in the organizing committee, the purpose of the event is to analyze and assess the current situation, identify problems, develop solutions and a common vision for the development of research on snow cover, precipitation and aerosols. The organizers believe that the conference will contribute to creation of a new scientific and discussion forum in the Baikal region.

The history of the Forum has begun five years ago. The first two conferences were held on Olkhon. The event was held online last year because of the pandemic. In 2022, the conference brought together 24 full-time and part-time speakers from St. Petersburg, Syktyvkar, Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Tomsk, Barnaul, Irkutsk, Kurchatov (Kazakhstan) and other cities.

The session was opened at INRTU Technopark. The participants were welcomed by Alexander Kononov, vice-rector for scientific work. He noted that being a hydrogeologist by profession, he understands the degree of uniqueness of the forum, aimed at environmental protection:

«Snow is an indicator that can tell a lot about the health of plants and the impact of industry on the environment. Snow research is important for studying past and future climate change.»

The topic of paleoclimate was continued at the forum opening by employees of the Chemical Analytical Center of the Institute of Water and Ecological Problems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences — Tatiana Papina, PhD in Chemistry, and Tatiana Noskova (Barnaul). They told about participation of Altai scientists in the Ice Memory International Project. The program considers glaciers as paleoarchives. In order to preserve these sources of information during the period of global warming, the researchers take cores, including those on Belukha and Mount Elbrus. One sample has already been examined. The second one is planned to be sent to a special depository in Antarctica «in memory of descendants for studying».

The opening ceremony was decorated by the performance of drummers of the Ethnobit ethnic percussion studio of the Center for Cultural and Educational Work.

During the exit part of the conference the participants went to a meeting at the office of Zapovednoe Pribaikalye. Then the forum continued in Listvyanka.

Natalia Yanchenko, PhD, leading researcher of the Institute of High Technologies of INRTU, made a speech at the plenary session. She spoke about research on temperature and electrical conductivity in the snow cover of Irkutsk. For this purpose, in November 2021-March 2022, she and her colleagues equipped two stationary field sites near the university stadium and the Politechnik camp. Scientists installed an autonomous atmospheric-snow measuring complex. The device, equipped with a solar radiation registration system, was invented in Tomsk. About a year ago, the complex has appeared at the disposal of the Institute of High Technologies. According to the measurement data, it is possible to obtain the vertical temperature gradient for every 2.5 cm, and then use this information to determine the height of the snow cover.

As part of the project, INRTU scientists performed a correlation between snow temperature and the concentration of substances that enter the ground or enter the atmosphere with melt water. According to Natalya Yanchenko, such devices have serious practical value. The equipment is effective for accurate assessment of meteorological data, for example, measuring local temperature at ski resorts and hard-to-reach natural or anthropogenic areas.

Dr. Anatoly Baranov, Professor of the Department of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy, reported on the improvement of snow cover condition monitoring in the north of the Angara region. The project was commissioned by an industrial partner.

Tatiana Papina, a researcher from Barnaul, made a presentation on the isotopic composition of precipitation in the south of Western Siberia. Isotopes refer to atoms that contain the same number of protons but differ in the number of neutrons. Particle analysis allows to confirm the origin of mineral water from a particular source, to determine the range of plant pollen transport, to trace the development of the atmospheric front.

The interest of the audience was aroused by the report of Professor R.E. Alekseev NSTU (Nizhny Novgorod), Vladimir Makarov. He is currently engaged in studying the behavior of the wheels of cars depending on the height and pollution of the snow. The scientist shared the results of his research on transport and technological vehicles movement on snowy-sandy roads, when overcoming snow drifts.

Dr. Vladimir Belyakov, Professor of R.E. Alekseev NSTU, told about the work of Nizhny Novgorod Scientific and Practical School of Transport Snow Science.

Representatives of Ulyanovsk State Technical University joined the discussion. The delegation was supervised by Ruslan Fedorov, Head of the Department of Wind Power Systems and Complexes. Andrey Chukalin, Ph.D. and Anton Petrov, post-graduate student, made their presentations. The authors presented approaches to mathematical modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the vicinity of technology parks.

In addition, the forum program included an online session. Participants discussed the movement of meltwater in the ice skeleton, atmospheric transport of impurities from oil and gas fields. Radioactivity of dust-aerosols, tritium contamination of snow and etc. were the subjects of discussion.

Igor Ognev, a member of the organizing and program committees, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Department, shared his impressions of the event. He supposes that this conference in 2022 is distinguished by its interdisciplinary character:

"Chemists, power engineers, ecologists, transport specialists gathered in Irkutsk. Each of them has a personal view on the issues of snow and climate change. This collaboration of opinions will enable us to adjust current ecological and economic agenda of the Northern regions of the Russian Federation".

Proceedings of the IV Baikal International Scientific Conference on Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation, Aerosols are included in the printed book.

Detailed information about the forum is on the website.