Arctic settlements are threatened by soil erosion due to thawing of permafrost

Erosion processes in the Arctic regions caused by global warming and the melting of permafrost pose a threat to local residents, as well as to the flora and fauna of the region. Nikita Tananaev, a leading researcher at the Northeastern Federal University and the Institute of Permafrost Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, expressed this opinion to TASS.

According to scientists, an increase in the temperature of the upper horizons of the cryolithozone, which occupies 65% of the territory of Russia, will cause a loss of stability of the foundations of buildings and engineering structures. The potential damage to buildings and structures from permafrost melting in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is estimated at 5-7 trillion rubles until 2050, including 700 billion rubles to the housing stock.

Due to the warming of the climate, hydrological conditions are changing - the amount of precipitation, evaporation, the nature of the movement of water on the surface of the earth and under it. "In addition, which is especially important for Yakutia and the northern regions in general, there is a degradation of permafrost, which underlies more than 25% of the Northern Hemisphere and 65% of the territory of Russia," Tananaev said.

On the other hand, active physical degradation of permafrost is observed in the Arctic - the development of thermokarst and large landslides. In the northern regions, this may be due to a hotter summer or an increase in precipitation in areas where summer temperatures have not experienced a significant increase.