YAKUTSK, March 4. /TASS/. Scientists found an alternative method to extend the use of so-called winter roads in the Arctic. The solution could be to freeze soil artificially by using solar—powered heat pumps, Egor Loktionov of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) told TASS.

Scientists forecast that stable ice periods will get 40-60% shorter by the end of the century, and the average ice thickness will decrease by 30-40%, which, for example, for Chukotka will mean 50 cm. This change will affect terms of winter roads and consequently the existing low transport accessibility for continental regions in the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone.

"The point of our technology is to cool the soil at the road base so that it lasted longer. The biggest problem is the cooling requires energy in summer. <...> Our idea is to use solar energy. If we do not just reflect solar radiation, we also convert it into electricity to cool the soil, the system can operate completely independently of fossil fuels," the expert said.

The conducted studies featured the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. The studies were supported by the Russian Science Foundation and the Arkhangelsk Region's government.

Experimental system

During the studies, at the Arctic University's training base in Arkhangelsk, scientists built a prototype of a thermal stabilizing system for a road. "In the experiment, we have shown that it is possible to maintain the soil in a frozen state in summer. This method is intended to be used not throughout the winter roads, but in their most problematic areas: normally, those are crossings, swamps, approaches to rivers that limit the entire road. Our technology is aimed at areas of the kind," he said.

The cost of making 1 km of a road using this technology is about $1 million. "Noteworthy, this technology is cheaper than the construction of a regular road. For example, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the construction of one kilometer of a regular road costs $2.4-2.5 million," he explained.

Additionally, the heat from refrigerating machines, and especially the excess energy from solar panels, may be used to develop monitoring systems and to organize energy supplies to settlements and heating stations, thus generating significant additional income, given the energy cost in such remote areas is 10-30 times higher than in the country's central regions.

"The data used in calculations of electricity generation by solar panels and the cooling capacity of a heat pump, as well as of the entire system, have been confirmed in experiments. The excess energy may be used in electric ferries that will also significantly cut environmental risks for spawning rivers. Thus, in addition to extending the life of winter roads, this technology will create transport and energy corridors that increase the stability of isolated settlements and improve the quality of life there," the scientist said.

How winter roads depend on climate

The share of paved roads in the Russian Arctic is about 14%, experts say. About 175 regular winter roads of almost 30,000 km are built every year in the country. The longest road runs along the Yenisei River ice - about 1,500 km long. For 90% of Yakutia's territory, where 60% of local roads are winter roads, this is the only land-based communication with the "mainland" - such roads are used to transport about 80% of all cargo.

Winter roads' life time has shrunk in the climate change. "The opening and closing dates of winter roads' seasons become unpredictable. I know people, who cannot get back dozens items of equipment stuck at a distant construction site. They got stuck for a year just because the winter road closed before a usual time," he said.

For example, in 2017, it was only by early February that it was possible to build a winter road for low-tonnage transport to the village of Andryushkino in Yakutia's north-east, where 800 people live. By that time, due to fuel shortages, the village had to turn off electricity from time to time and to lower the heating temperature.