Paul Goble
Staunton, August 7 – Two-thirds of the territory of the Russian Federation is covered by permafrost, and the melting of this ice is rapidly "converting a large part of Russia into a swamp,” according to studies by British and Russian scholars reported and discussed this week in Moscow’s "Novyye izvestiya.”
Researchers at the University of Cambridge, Veronika Vorontsova and Mariya Vasilchenko note, predict that the permafrost will according to their models melt away sometime between 2020 and 2050, but "already now,” the permafrost has disappeared in many places in northern Russia (newizv.ru/society/2013-08-06/186801-ona-rastajala.html).
With its loss, the ground under many buildings and other infrastructure has become gelatinous putting human construction above it at risk. Many people can no longer live in houses because the foundations are collapsing, and the entire city of Dudinka in Krasnoyarsk Kray may "cease to exist” as a result.
According to Russian scholars working in Yakutsk, Vorontsova and Vasilchenko ...