Permafrost Monitoring System Developers Discuss Progress Made

Work is underway to establish a national system for monitoring permafrost. On 17 December 2021, the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment hosted a meeting of an interagency workgroup for that matter. The meeting was attended by officials and experts from the Ministry, Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Russian Academy of Science, and other bodies concerned. Participants gave their updates on the design process and discussed the legal aspects of the system.

The Federal Hydrometeorology Service plans to build the system based on its monitoring network. It could be integrated with the already existing background environmental data collection system and use data provided by its 140 stations spread throughout the Russian North. Probes installed in 30-meter-deep boreholes across Russian regions with permafrost will measure temperature to be further reported to all interested parties both in Russia and abroad, under the World Meteorological Organization data exchange protocols.

In turn, the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment stated that the draft bill to set up a legal framework for the newly designed system had been submitted to the Federal Government for review and approval.

Putting in place a permafrost monitoring system in the Russian Arctic is a necessity. Having regular access to up-to-date data on the condition of permafrost is crucial for learning more about permafrost and the processes affecting it. This means that experts will be enabled to forecast changes and come up with timely solutions to address emerging challenges and threats.

Arctic Today is a column by PORA CEO Alexander Stotskiy analyzing major international, national and regional events and trends in the Arctic.