ST. PETERSBURG, March 20. /TASS/. A center to monitor conditions of the perennially frozen grounds opened in St. Petersburg's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI). The center's experts will monitor changing conditions of the perennially frozen grounds at the vast area from the Far North to Tuva and the Altai Region, the institute's press service told reporters.
"The center will manage work of observation stations, will receive, analyze and store data, will prepare analytics and reports, and will supply data to the national fund of the environment's conditions and pollution," the press service said.
Under the state program to 2025, scientists will organize a wide network of observation stations. The first 20 of the planned 140 stations will begin working in 2023. Necessary equipment will be installed at existing stations of the national hydro-meteorology stations, thus cutting the project's expenses. The new observation system, the press service explained, will be used for the full-scale monitoring of the permafrost that occupies two-thirds of the Russian territory.
"About 6 million square kilometers of this country's territory are covered with perennially frozen soils that have not melted, remaining stable for hundreds and thousands of years. But in recent decades we have witnessed the processes that contribute to the degradation of such soils, which consequently may cause the destruction of thousands of residential and industrial buildings and structures," the institute's Director Alexander Makarov said.
According to him, by constant monitoring of the permafrost scientists will be able to identify in advance the zones of the greatest melting and risks for infrastructure facilities. The observation system's concept has been developed at the AARI. Experts have tested successfully the technology of arranging thermometric wells and data transmission in the Far North and on the Spitsbergen Archipelago, the director added.
The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute is the world's leading scientific center to study the Earth's polar areas. The Institute carries out the entire cycle of works in high latitudes in the interests of the Russian Federation and commercial companies. The institute's scientific divisions are engaged in fundamental and applied research of climate, processes in the atmosphere, near space, marine environment and ice cover.