Is warming 2.8 times faster than in the world
Vladimir Putin instructed the government to investigate what is happening with permafrost: 15 million Russians live on its territory, and no systematic control is currently being conducted. “At the same time, the growth of the average annual temperature in Russia is 2.8 times faster than in global terms,” the president said. To monitor permafrost, it is planned to drill 140 wells, modernize and increase the number of weather stations in the Arctic zone and launch the ice-resistant drifting platform “North Pole”.
Photo: kremlin.ru
One of the main problems of this summer were fires and floods, the fight against which began in May and is still not even approaching completion. Vladimir Putin said that all this is due to climate change: The average annual temperature in Russia is rising much faster than the average on the globe. At the same time, in our country there are not only burning forests and rivers overflowing the banks, but also permafrost, about the state ofwhich no one really knows anything about. “Many settlements were built there in Soviet times, and there is still no unified monitoring system,” the president complained. He recalled the agreement to develop a separate federal law on permafrost and monitoring its condition. “What’s going on there? It is necessary to develop and submit it as soon as possible,” Putin addressed the Minister of Natural Resources.
The North Pole drifting platform, which has been under construction at the shipyards of St. Petersburg since 2018, will provide scientific support to the permafrost monitoring system. It can freeze into the ice and will drift autonomously for two years together with 16 research laboratories, Kozlov told Putin. The platform’s readiness is currently 84%. The commissioning is scheduled for 2022. “There are no analogues in the world,” the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources assured.
Kozlov also drew Putin’s attention to the accuracy of the predictions of Roshydromet, which, according to him, have “justifiability indicators at the world level.” So, forecasters can reliably report about the approach of hail in 3 hours, about avalanches-in 72 hours, about floods and fires – “within a week”. The President nodded with satisfaction, but warned that a big conversation about fires, floods, their consequences and causes is expected on Friday, August 6. As previously reported by MK, the president will go to the fire-affected areas of the Chelyabinsk region.