MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. The state system to monitor permafrost will have another 48 wells in Russia's ten regions. They will be used to see how global warming affects permafrost, Ministry of Natural Resources said.

"Studying permafrost is a national task. This information helps to identify risk areas, to make recommendations for builders and engineers. Houses, roads and communications must be adapted to the changes. Drilling in 2024 is mostly in Yakutia, and in 2025 work will begin in Chukotka. Presently, 30 observation points have been working, including Eurasia's northernmost point on Franz Josef Land and Russia's southernmost point in the Altai Region, at the border with Mongolia. The number of points will grow to 78 by the end of this year," the authority's press service quoted Minister Alexander Kozlov as saying.

Wells will be drilled in the Altai, Buryatia, Komi, Yakutia, Nenets, Chukotka, Yamalo-Nenets, Amur, Arkhangelsk, Magadan, and Krasnoyarsk Regions. Scientists will have a better understanding of how permafrost is changing in global climate change and will prepare forecasts of the country's social and economic development. The information will be used also to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost melting. The permafrost area takes almost two thirds of the country, where 15 million people live.

"The developing monitoring system has covered the entire coastal area along the Northern Sea Route to the Wrangel Island. It has provided data that must be taken into account when designing ground infrastructures and in development of the Russian Arctic Zone's backbone settlements. The network will get denser within two coming years, and presently in some regions it has been deployed fully," Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Alexander Makarov added.

One of them is the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, where obtained data has been used to analyze permafrost degradation processes in the region's southern part. At the same time, permafrost temperatures in the Yamal Peninsula's north are low and comparable to those recorded by the state monitoring network's well in Yakutia's Oymyakon (Pole of Cold). When the network is deployed fully, specialists will identify nationwide areas at risk.

The permafrost background monitoring system is a network of observation points, organized by the national hydrometeorology service, Roshydromet. The network will be deployed fully by the end of 2025. It will unite 140 points. Presently, there are 30 operating wells, each of them is 25 meters deep. They are equipped with sensors and data storage and transmission systems.