A photo from open sources
Permafrost thawing poses a serious danger to Russian economy; may be subject to deformation and destruction important infrastructure, including thousands of kilometers of oil and gas pipelines in Western Siberia. And don’t say you about it found out just now. The climate is on the verge of a turning point moment. If it gets warmer by a few tenths of a degree, eternal the permafrost of the vast expanses of Siberia will begin to melt uncontrollably. A significant amount of air will be released into the atmosphere. greenhouse gases and large-scale damage to the Russian infrastructure, including pipelines through which natural gas goes to Europe. The Arctic warms up faster than the rest of the planet, and climatologists are tired of warning that this in turn is even more accelerates climate change. In this region huge organic carbon stocks – mainly in the form of permafrost and ice clathrates, in which it is locked methane (a powerful greenhouse gas). Siberian Permafrost poses a special danger. If the yedom begins to melt, it is no longer stop, because soil microorganisms will begin to eat carbon and produce heat, contributing to further melting. Melting Edoms – this is the very turning point. And for the first time, scientists took to predict when this will happen. Anton Wax from Oxford University (Great Britain) and its colleagues reconstructed 500 thousand years of history of the Siberian permafrost. We already know how to this period the world average temperature rose and fell, like ice shields approached and retreated, so there was only simulate the reaction to these processes of Siberian soil. In fact in fact, it’s not so simple, because there is no direct data on this subject and one must look for an indirect method. Therefore the researchers visited six caves located from north to south on almost the same line. Two of them are located under the hot Gobi Desert, three more – in the area where there are permafrost spots, and the last – on the edge of Siberia in permafrost zone. Scientists have focused on stalagmites that grow only when there is water in the cave. If the soil is frozen, respectively, no water. Thus managed compile a chronicle of temperature changes over the caves. And in the the northern of them, the stalagmites grew only once – during especially warm interglacial period, lasting 424–374 thousand years back. At that time, the average world temperature was one and a half degrees above the average of the last 10 thousand years. In other words, today’s permafrost will become vulnerable when global warming will exceed these same one and a half degrees. When is it will happen? From 1850 to 2005, the temperature of the planet rose by 0.8 ° C, according to the report of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on climate change from 2007. Even if tomorrow humanity will stop producing greenhouse gases over the next twenty years warmer by another 0.2 ° C. But this, of course, will not happen – emissions are only increasing. Moreover, new ones are being built. fossil fuel power plants, which means that we will smoke for several more decades at least. What are effects? Tim Lenton of Exeter University (UK) The most concern is the landscape. Building and infrastructure are often built in Siberia on a solid foundation permafrost, which will inevitably weaken. What will happen next with roads and cities, it’s easy to imagine, but scary. Damp permafrost will also lead to a sharp increase cost of maintenance and pipeline maintenance. what for methane, its emissions will be from 160 to 290 billion tons per carbon dioxide equivalent. In fact, this is not very much compared to what people are already throwing away. Concerns about the fact that greenhouse gases stored in permafrost will lead to large-scale escalation of global warming, many scientists believe exaggerated. We are able to destroy ourselves without help. The results of the study are published in the journal Science. Prepared by NewScientist.
UK Water Time Global Warming Climate Caves Siberia
