Verkhoyansk, which is located considerably to the North of Salekhard, the closest rival of the famous Oymyakon at minus temperatures: came here in winter to 68 degrees. And recently experienced unprecedented heat – recorded in the shade to 38.4. Hell in the Arctic circle. In the large difference between the peaks of the seasonal temperatures is not a problem, it is typical for the region, dangerously steady average annual increase in temperature. It is combined with the powerful front of the fire, not for the first time over a large part of the Republic is a direct threat to the stronghold, the largest subject of the Russian Federation – the permafrost.
In the Preface to the book of the founder of Soviet Geocryology, Mikhail Sumgin “permafrost soils in the USSR” sounded the call “to deal with the permafrost all the forces of science until its complete destruction”. Today that vision is perceived monstrous, absurd, the authorities of Yakutia are convinced that the permafrost should be protected as a fundamental part of the ecosystem. Without it, after all “swim” for long. Two years ago, it adopted a regional law “On protection of permafrost”, this summer announced the development of a project similar law.
With a clear interest news took on the Yamal Peninsula, where the pace of industrial development of the Arctic territories is perhaps the highest in Russia. Accordingly, there are more risks to infrastructure – both existing and being created. In the early 1990s, the proportion of accidents and incidents on the pipelines because of the instability of permafrost was 27 percent, and she, of course, only increases.
of Course, nor Yakutsk, nor the residents, nor all of humanity can not afford to stop the process of permafrost degradation, with projected rates of global warming. Its speed in the regions of the circumpolar world is much higher than the global average. We are talking about the containment of the process, adherence to very strict rules of construction and operation on permafrost. To do this, first it is necessary to widespread monitoring of the atmosphere, upper and deep enough (up to 200 m) layers of the earth’s surface. Not to dispense with the drilling of many observation wells in cities and towns. Ideally, you should collect for the analysis of information about the condition of the soil under each capital building. All civil engineering projects must pass a rigid state examination. Otherwise it will in Novy Urengoy, where high-rise buildings soon after their settlement contorted and residents had to be evacuated (“the Case of the Extreme”, “Economy of the Ural Federal district” dated July 2, 2020).
Often leads to problems of failure to observe basic rules of operation of structures, reminiscent of the Arctic permafrost-research centre. Pile underground deprive obligatoryOh natural ventilation. The accumulated snow is not exported. Underused insulation, reflective materials. Already a lot of evidence of infill development, which provokes a “warming up” of the soil.
In a large study by an international group of scientists, including a representative of the Institute of Earth cryosphere, Tyumen scientific center SB RAS Vladimir Romanovsky, presents a forecast of risk for engineering structures in permafrost regions of the Northern hemisphere for the next three decades. Evaluation severe. 70 percent of the available infrastructure, more than 1,200 settlements located in areas with a high potential for thawing of the surface permafrost, in the long term to 2050 in one way or another could be affected 3.6 million people. In the Russian Arctic almost half of significant deposits of hydrocarbons located in the areas where instability of soils can cause serious damage to the mining companies, the national economy.
In the area of the potential danger of 1260 kilometers of major pipelines of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous district, 280 kilometers most Northern in the world of the railway Obskaya-Bovanenkovo, which, remember, was supposed to “enhance” and use to transport goods to the sea port of Sabetta. “Hot spots” of the planet industrial city of Vorkuta and Novy Urengoy. “The damage to the pipes and such, for example, objects, as repositories of harmful substances that could lead to large-scale spills and disturbance of regional ecosystems,” wrote the authors, like a warning of what happened recently Norilsk disaster. •
the Academician Vladimir Melnikov, in his time founded and headed the Institute of the Earth cryosphere, put forward the unusual hypothesis about the causes of explosive emissions of hundreds of tons of soil on the peninsulas of Yamal and gydansky with formation of deep craters and the gas outlet of them.
– On invisible to the eye deformation of soils of the Islands in the Kara sea, in my opinion, could have a significant impact decades experienced nuclear explosions in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago – first ground, then underground says permafrost. – There tested “king-bomb”, where one of the charges had a capacity of under four megatons – comparable to the shock awakened the terrible volcano, around the vent which produced a lot of geysers. And then the shock wave will inevitably affect the fragile ice, came, assume, to the mainland, forming in permafrost rocks microcracks.
over time they were expanded further explosions and seeping from the depths of gas. He accumulated in the cavities to a critical volume at some point, under strong pressure have thrown into the air the top of the soil monolith with a thickness of tens of meters. Was the primary cause or other, in any��case we need a comprehensive study. Gas “Mina” can smash to pieces any structure, warns a scientist.
