Monitoring the Permafrost Conditions along Pipeline Routes in Central Yakutia, Russia
Stepan Varlamov,
Pavel Skryabin,
Aleksandr Zhirkov () and
Zhi Wen
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Stepan Varlamov: Melnikov Permafrost Institute SB RAS, Yakutsk 677010, Russia
Pavel Skryabin: Melnikov Permafrost Institute SB RAS, Yakutsk 677010, Russia
Aleksandr Zhirkov: Melnikov Permafrost Institute SB RAS, Yakutsk 677010, Russia
Zhi Wen: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources CAS, Lanzhou 730000, China
Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-15
Abstract:
Pipelines are critical infrastructure for Yakutia, transporting vital supplies to communities in this vast northern region. The pipeline routes in central Yakutia traverse areas of ice-rich permafrost that is sensitive to temperature changes. This study examined the thermal state of permafrost in undisturbed and disturbed settings along the Lena River to Mundulakh Reservoir water pipeline and the Mastakh to Yakutsk gas pipeline and considered the effects of climatic fluctuations and surface disturbances (forest removal and wildfire) over the monitoring periods of 28 and 18 years, respectively. The geocryological conditions in the study area, as well as the methods of permafrost thermal monitoring, are described. The observation results demonstrated significant increases in the mean annual ground temperature in the upper permafrost layers, as well as in the active-layer thickness following fire and post-fire clearing. At some sites, progressive deepening of the active layer caused the formation of taliks and reached the top of massive ground ice, initiating permafrost degradation. The development of extreme ground temperatures in the layer of annual temperature fluctuations was analyzed according to the combination of seasonal and annual meteorological conditions and the type of anthropogenic impact. The research results can be extrapolated to similar anthropogenic landscapes.
Keywords: permafrost; ground temperature; active layer thickness; monitoring; pipeline; climate change; anthropogenic effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2331-:d:1008272
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