In over two-thirds of the Russian territory, there is something that may seem like stone beginning at three or four feet under the ground. As you may imagine, Russia’s icy climate creates rock hard conditions in the ground known as perennial frost, or permafrost, scientifically known as ground constantly frozen for over two years. Some regions of Russian territory have permafrost that is thousands of feet deep and frozen for many thousands of years. Permafrost does not necessarily contain ice, but in areas where permafrost thaws and refreezes seasonally there may be frozen water.
Elevating temperatures in
recent years is sparking concerns in far north regions, such as
Russia. Many permafrost areas are having longer thawing periods, and in
the outer edges of permafrost regions, some is melting away, permanently. Vladislav Bolov, head of the Emergency
Situations Ministry's Center for Forecasting and Monitoring has
reported in Moscow Times saying, "In the next 25 to 30 years, the permafrost
zone in Russia could shrink by 10 to 18 percent. By mid-century
that could rise to 15 to 30 percent.” The nature of permafrost means
that when it thaws, it is as if bedrock is evacuating from the ground.
This has and will continue to have a major effect on infrastructure and
buildings built on or near permafrost. Architecture
in Siberia has developed with much influence from the existence of
permafrost. In some far-north towns, buildings are elevated on beams to
mitigate the effects of the disastrous changing permafrost, with beams resting atop the
layer of everlasting ice.
Railways in Russia demonstrate the dangers of thawing permafrost along some stretches where they are bending out of shape. "The primary effect of permafrost melt is subsidence — sections of land that sink or shift unpredictably. These can appear as local subsidence tens of meters long, and as long 'wavy' areas that extend for a kilometer or more," Russian Railways reported Russian railways in a written report.
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