Scientists create map for adaptation to permafrost thawing in Yakutia

YAKUTSK, September 7. /TASS/. Scientists of the Melnikov Permafrost Institute (the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch ) created a permafrost-landscape map for adaptation to the developing degradation of the perennially frozen ground, the Institute’s Deputy Director Alexander Fedorov told a roundtable in Yakutsk, which was devoted to cutting negative impacts from the climate changes. Earlier, the institute’s experts said Yakutia’s 40% of the territory is subject to dangerous phenomena during the melting of the permafrost, the degradation of which is increasing due to the climate changes. "The Permafrost Institute has created a permafrost-landscape map, which contains all features of the permafrost and landscapes, information about the permafrost’s temperatures, depths of the seasonal thawing, the cryogenic processes," the deputy director said. The map, scientists say, will be used to forecast the thawing speed and as a reference to see which areas could be safe for construction and doing business. According to the expert, 95% of Yakutia’s territory is on the permafrost. Its degradation causes waterlogging of territories and reduces the stability of building foundations. Permafrost’s degradation Experts worldwide develop many forecasts of the permafrost’s degradation, he continued. For example, US scientists say it will happen by 2050. "We have registered the temperatures of soil in the tundra have grown by 2-3 degrees over recent 30 years, in the taiga — by 0.5 degrees," he said. "The difference can be explained by the different depths of the ice layers and by the protecting layers, by man-caused factors." From the 1990s, specialists have been registering lowering foundations in the open areas in Yakutia’s center and north. "The average depth of the sinking is 10-14cm, in the fields - about one centimeter," the scientist said. A well-known example of this sinking is the runway in central Yakutia’s Churapchinsky District, which cannot be used now. Roundtable The roundtable is organized by Yakutia’s government, the Emergency Situations Ministry’s regional division and the local branch of the country’s Union of Rescuers. Read more