R 102243Z FEB 09
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1074
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK

UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000010 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON RS
SUBJECT: YAKUTSK:  PRESERVING THE PERMAFROST 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Yakutsk is the largest inhabited area in the world 
built upon permafrost, and as a result the city is presented 
with a unique set of challenges.  Increasing temperatures have 
thawed the top layer of frost and building foundations are 
beginning to shift, causing damage to structures and pipes. 
Poloff and FSN met with the Acting Director of the Permafrost 
Research Institute in Yakutsk to discuss how global warming is 
affecting the city built on ice. 
 
City on Ice 
 
¶2.  Yakutsk is the largest city in the world that sits atop 
permafrost and as such experiences unique conditions that make 
several aspects of life there challenging, especially 
construction.  Below the city rests a layer of frozen earth 300 
to 320 meters thick.  When warm weather arrives, only the 
top-most two meters of soil thaws, leaving hundreds of meters of 
rock-solid dirt beneath. 
 
¶3.  All structures in Yakutsk are built atop large concrete 
pylons that reach several meters under the ground in order to 
minimize permafrost melting under the buildings.  Buildings 
constructed directly on the ground would drastically shift as 
the soil beneath freezes, thaws, and refreezes.  Though the 
permanently frozen solid layer below the city would seem to bee 
a firm foundation to build upon, several structures throughout 
the city have begun to shift and crack.  Resulting burst pipes 
are a frequent event in the city.  Vladivostok Poloff visited 
the Permafrost Research Institute in Yakutsk to discuss how 
permafrost affects Yakutsk, and the consequences of global 
warming on its inhabitants. 
 
Among the Frozen Walls of the Permafrost Institute 
 
¶4.  On December 18 Conoff met with Viktor Shepelev, the Acting 
Director of Permafrost Research Institute in Yakutsk.  The 
Institute studies the influence of permafrost on human 
activities and is run by the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Its 
specialists provide recommendations and consultation services 
for major private construction projects, and play a part in 
planning public infrastructure projects such as railroads, 
highways, and pipelines. 
 
¶5.  In addition to researching ways to improve construction 
methods in permafrost zones, the institute also investigates how 
groundwater is formed in what they call the 'cryolithic zone,' 
works to understand heat exchange in frozen and melting rocks, 
and makes recommendations on environmental management and nature 
protection in the permafrost zone.  It also maintains several 
permafrost monitoring stations throughout the region.  The 
institute has several joint projects with research facilities in 
Alaska, Sweden, Mongolia, Germany, and France -- many of which 
provide financial support.  The institute's reports have been 
published in "Nature" and "Science" magazines. 
 
¶6.  After their discussion in the Director's office, Poloff and 
FSN visited the institute's main research area -- a cavern dug 
12 meters into the permanently frozen earth where the 
temperature is a constant -8C even during summer.  The hallways 
and ceiling are coated with ice crystals in complex geometrical 
shapes that have been forming for decades.  The walls of the 
cavern look like they are dug into rock, but actually consist of 
frozen sand.  The entrance is decorated with a mammoth bone 
found while constructing its tunnels. 
What, Carbon Doesn't Cause Global Warming? 
 
¶7.  Local residents have begun complaining of widening cracks in 
their residences, and officials acknowledged that the shifting 
permafrost is disrupting the pylon bases on which the city's 
buildings rest.  Many residents point to global warming as the 
cause.  Institute Director Shepelev confirmed that the 
temperature in Yakutsk has increased 2.5 degrees centigrade 
during the last 30 years, that winters are getting warmer (-45C 
instead of -60C), and that Yakutia receives less precipitation 
than before. 
 
¶8.  However, Shepelev firmly denies that the melting permafrost 
is connected with human activity.  He described the history of 
permafrost in the region to Poloff and stressed that such 
fluctuations are, in his opinion, normal.  He says that based on 
joint research his institute conducted with the Geophysics 
Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska, past patterns indicate that a 
cooling process will begin around 2015 and continue through at 
least 2050, after which warming will begin again. 
 
¶9.  Others at the institute echoed the idea that the problem 
with crumbling buildings is not a result of human-induced global 
warming, but of poor construction techniques that the Permafrost 
institute can help improve.  Problems occur when builders fail 
to leave enough space between the earth and the structure to 
prevent warming of the soil, when buildings are constructed 
hastily without waiting for the concrete pilings to settle, and 
when hot water pipes burst and melt the ice below. 
 
¶10.  Comment.  Increasing temperatures will likely have a 
continuing effect on infrastructure in Yakutsk, and barring a 
reversal in the warming trend, solving the problem of crumbling 
buildings will require increased efforts from authorities there. 
 It is fascinating to note that the director of a 
government-sponsored scientific institute firmly believes that 
increasing temperatures worldwide are not being caused by carbon 
emissions, but are simply part of a natural cycle.  That view 
may say much about the physical remoteness of city of Yakutsk 
and the resulting distance from the scientific mainstream. 
 
 
ARMBRUSTER