Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 21 – Part of all
of eight Russian regions will be under water by mid-century as a result of
global warming and the melting of permafrost, a development that experts say
will force the Russian government to radically change its development plans for
the resource-rich and security important Far North, according to researchers in
the Urals.
Climate specialists at the Urals
Federal University have determined, Igor Pushkaryov reports on the Znak portal,
that the melting of the permafrost over the next three decades mean that “part
of the territory of eight regions of the Russian Federation will disappear
under water” (znak.com/2017-02-20/vosem_regionov_rossii_riskuyut_uyti_pod_vodu_cherez_50_let_prognoz_uralskih_uchenyh)
Temperatures above the permafrost
zone have changed “sharply” over the last 50 years, the researchers say.
Earlier, they averaged about minus 10 degrees centigrade; now the average five,
and when they reach “plus one,” the experts say, “the permafrost will thaw and
everything will collapse.”
Within five years, the changes will
be obvious, and in a few decades, the situation will “already be a catastrophe.” Western Siberia where the permafrost is
thinnest will be hit first and “all the cities of the Yamal peninsula” will be
flooded. Consequently, “all the oil and gas infrastructure will collapse, as
well as all the oil and gas pipelines.”
In addition, the initial melting
will undermine all buildings in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk oblasts, the Komi
Republic, the Yamalo-Nenets District, Krasnoyarsk Kray and the Sakha Republic.”
And subsequently, it will flood even the central Urals region as well. That
will put an end to life in Russia as we know it now.
What is most immediately disturbing
is the Russian government’s response: it has cut back the funding of research
in this area.
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