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Russian regions containing permafrost play an important role in the Russian economy, containing vast reserves of natural resources and hosting large-scale infrastructure to facilitate these resources' exploitation. Rapidly changing climatic conditions are a major concern for the future economic development of these regions. This study examines the extent to which infrastructure and housing are affected by permafrost in Russia and estimates the associated value of these assets. An ensemble of climate projections is used as a forcing to a permafrost-geotechnical model, in order to estimate the cost of buildings and infrastructure affected by permafrost degradation by mid-21st century under RCP 8.5 scenario. The total value of fixed assets on permafrost was estimated at 248.6 bln USD. Projected climatic changes will affect 20% of structures and 19% of infrastructure assets, costing 16.7 bln USD and 67.7 bln USD respectively to mitigate. The total cost of residential real estate on permafrost was estimated at 52.6 bln USD, with 54% buildings affected by significant permafrost degradation by the mid-21st century. The paper discusses the variability in climate-change projections and the ability of Russia's administrative regions containing permafrost to cope with projected climate-change impacts. The study can be used in land use planning and to promote the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies for addressing the climate-change impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure and housing.

The results of the Internet discussion on the classification of urban soils aimed at evaluating their possible inclusion into the modern Russian soil classification system adopted by a wide range of specialists are presented. The first step was to address the urban diagnostic horizons as the basis for identifying soil types according to the rules of the Russian soil classification. New diagnostic horizons were proposed for urban soils: urbic (UR), filled compost-mineral (RAT), and filled peat (RT). The combination of these horizons with other diagnostic horizons and layers of technogenic materials correspond to different soil types. At the subtype level, the diagnostic properties (qualifiers) that may reflect both natural phenomena (gley, alkalinity) and technogenic impacts on the soils (urbistratified; phosphatic; or poorly expressed urban —ur, rat, rt) are used. Some corrections were proposed for the system of parent materials in urban environments. Urban soils formerly described in another nomenclature—urbanozems, urbiquasizems, and culturozems—are correlated with the taxa in all the trunks of the system. The proposals accepted can be used for the next updated version of the new Russian soil classification system.

This is an attempt to predict the potential economic impacts on public infrastructure upon degrading permafrost which is losing its bearing capacity. Climate change-related increases in costs (economic losses or damage) are estimated for several climate futures by 2050 separately for 39 municipalities located in the Russian Arctic permafrost domain. The hypothetical changes in mean annual ground temperature are inferred from air and ground temperature trends and monitoring data, with reference to forecasts of the Climate Center of the Russian Meteorological Service (Roshydromet) and climate change scenarios (representative concentration pathways RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5). The calculations were performed for twelve possible cases with different air ground temperature assumptions, with regard to the difference between the ground and air mean annual temperatures. This difference, or temperature shifts, due to radiation, snow, vegetation, and atmospheric precipitation effects, was estimated either by means of calculations proceeding from possible changes of climate variables or by summation of known values reported from different Arctic areas. The economic losses were evaluated as maximum and minimum values at extreme values of permafrost parameters, separately for each case. The buildings and facilities on permafrost were assumed to have pile foundations with friction piles. The permafrost thaw impact was meant as the loss of the soil capacity to bear the support structures for the infrastructure leading to deformation and failure. The impact was considered significant if the change exceeded the safety margin according to the Russian Building Code. The greatest damage is expected to housing stock and buildings and structures of main economic sectors. The monetary value of the residential infrastructure was estimated using a specially compiled inventory database including address, age, and surface area of 23.900 houses in 39 selected Russian Arctic municipalities over a total area of 44.600 km2. The estimation of fixed assets stemmed from the assumption that their monetary value is proportional to the gross output in the respective economic sector, which, in its turn, correlates with the payroll total corrected for mean industry coefficients for different regions of Russia. The potential damage may reach up to US$ 132 billion (total) and ~ US$ 15 billion for residential infrastructure alone, which generally agrees with other estimates.

Thermokarst (thaw) lakes of the Western Siberian Lowland (WSL), the World´s largest permafrost peatland, contain important but poorly constrained stocks of organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen. These lakes are highly vulnerable to climate warming and permafrost thaw. The present work aims to quantify the OC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks and accumulation rates in sediments of 11 thermokarst lakes in the WSL across a permafrost gradient, from isolated to discontinuous and continuous permafrost. We found an increase in OC and TN stocks in lake sediments (0–30 cm) from the northern taiga with sporadic permafrost (285 Tg C and 10.5 Tg N) to the tundra zone with continuous permafrost (628 Tg C and 26 Tg N). The upper 30 cm thermokarst lake sediments of the permafrost-affected WSL store 1250 ± 35 Tg C and 50 ± 1.4 Tg N). The OC accumulation rates in thermokarst lake sediments ranged from 36 to 250 g C m−2 year−1, which is 5 to 10 times higher than C accumulation rates in peatlands of western Siberia. The total OC accumulation in lakes of WSL is 7.8 ± 0.7 Tg C year−1. This is about 24–47% of the C emission from the WSL thermokarst lakes, implying that it represents an important factor in the C budget to consider in order to understand impacts of climate change and permafrost thaw on the C cycle.

The Global Climate Observing System and Global Terrestrial Observing Network have identified permafrost as an 'Essential Climate Variable,' for which ground temperature and active layer dynamics are key variables. This work presents long-term climate, and permafrost monitoring data at seven sites representative of diverse climatic and environmental conditions in the western Russian Arctic. The region of interest is experiencing some of the highest rates of permafrost degradation globally. Since 1970, mean annual air temperatures and precipitation have increased at rates from 0.05 to 0.07 °C yr−1 and 1 to 3 mm yr−1 respectively. In response to changing climate, all seven sites examined show evidence of rapid permafrost degradation. Mean annual ground temperatures increases from 0.03 to 0.06 °C yr−1 at 10-12 m depth were observed in continuous permafrost zone. The permafrost table at all sites has lowered, up to 8 m in the discontinuous permafrost zone. Three stages of permafrost degradation are characterized for the western Russian Arctic based on the observations reported.

In the current paper, the analysis of heavy mineral concentrate (Schlich analysis) was used to study the particles of technogenic origin in the samples of urban surface-deposited sediments (USDS). The USDS samples were collected in the residential areas of 10 Russian cities located in different economic, climatic, and geological zones: Ufa, Perm, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Tagil, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk, and Ekaterinburg. The number of technogenic particles was determined in the coarse particle size fractions of 0.1–0.25 and 0.25–1 mm. The types of technogenic particle were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The amount of technogenic material differed from city to city; the fraction of technogenic particles in the samples varied in the range from 0.01 to 0.43 with an average value of 0.18. The technogenic particles in USDS samples were represented by lithoid and granulated slag, iron and silicate microspheres, fragments of brick, paint, glass, plaster, and other household waste. Various types of technogenic particle differed in morphological characteristics as well as in chemical composition. The novelty and significance of the study comprises the following: it has been shown that technogenic particles are contained in a significant part of the USDS; the quantitative indicators of the accumulation of technogenic particles in the urban landscape have been determined; the contributions of various types of particles to the total amount of technogenic material were estimated for the urban landscape; the trends in the transformation of typomorphic elemental associations in the urban sediments associated with the material of technogenic origin were demonstrated; and the alteration trends in the USDS microelemental content were revealed, taking into account the impurities in the composition of technogenic particles.

Mysterious craters, with anomalously high concentrations of methane, have formed in the Yamal and Taymyr peninsulas of Siberia since 2014. While thawing permafrost owing to climate warming promotes methane releases, it is unknown how such release might be associated with explosion and crater formation. A significant volume of surface ice‐melt water can migrate downward driven by osmotic pressure associated with a cryopeg, a lens of salty water below. Overpressure reached at depth may lead to the cracking of the soil and subsequent decomposition of methane hydrates, with implications for the climate. Plain Language Summary We show how osmosis drives explosions and methane release in Siberian permafrost. We anticipate that as well as being of direct relevance to permafrost researchers, this work will be of interest to a large number of people involved in climate change research, because the mechanism we uncover of osmotic pumping leading to permafrost explosions has potentially grave consequences involving the release of methane presently locked up in hydrates. Key Points Surface ice‐melt water can migrate downward driven by the osmotic pressure associated with a cryopeg, a lens of salty water below Overpressure can cause the frozen soil to crack resulting in mechanical explosion

Ecological and geochemical characteristics of urbanozems (Urbic Technosols) were evaluated, using an integrated analysis of official data of the Russian Meteorological Service on the content of priority heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni) in soils of 23 cities in Volga Federal District and of the data of the Federal Service of State Statistics on socio-economic parameters of these settlements. Possible relationships between parameters of soil pollution and urban features of cities were revealed with the help of multivariate statistical analyzes (cluster and factorial). Admissible levels of Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu were established for soils of most cities in the region with mean socio-economic parameters, average concentrations of which are close to abundance values in urban soils in Russia. The APC of Ni in soils is exceeded in small and medium cities of the Republic of Bashkortostan, which reflects regional natural and anthropogenic geochemical anomaly in the east of Volga Federal District, but no correlations between nickel pollution and socio-economic parameters of settlements are revealed. Moderately hazardous level of complex pollution in urbanozems with dominant Cd accumulation and significantly lower concentrations of other heavy metals (the cities of Belebei, Davlekanovo, and Dzerzhinsk) is not correlated with demographic parameters of settlements. In case of more complicated profile of soil pollution (Cd–Zn in Penza or Cu–Cd–Zn in Mednogorsk), the total birth rate is lower and the mortality rate is higher as compared with the mean regional parameters . Different directions of gradients of increasing concentrations of Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu in soils, as well as of the Zc total parameter of soil pollution in relation to indices of natural population growth and the absence on the ordination diagram of a noticeable relationship between ecological and geochemical characteristics of soils and the age of the city, the number and density of the population, and the density of the street road network are shown, using the example of cities in the Volga Federal District.

Studies of soils and soil cover of recreation zones were carried out in Leningrad oblast in areas located near various water bodies: rivers, lakes, the Gulf of Finland, and flooded quarries. Based on satellite images, the main indicative features of recreation zones were determined. Similar features of the transformation of soils and soil cover of recreation zones in various landscapes of Leningrad oblast were revealed. Recreation loads lead to significant changes in the natural soil cover patterns and the appearance of new anthropogenic soil cover patterns, which usually display a geometrically regular shape. In anthropogenically modified landscapes, under the influence of recreation activities, new non-contrasting soil combinations close to natural tachettes are formed along the network of small paths; contrasting soil combinations (soil complexes) are formed along the network of dirt roads or firebreaks; and contrasting soil combinations of larger scale (soil association) are formed along reclamation ditches and old military trenches. In recreation areas along the banks of abandoned flooded quarries and in overgrown areas, non-contrasting soil combinations of the type of tachettes are formed; contrasting soil combinations (complexes) are formed along the road network, and soil associations are formed along reclamation ditches. Soil combinations of micromosaic type are found in the areas with fire pits, where pyrogenically transformed soils of 0.1–0.6 m 2 in size are surrounded by slightly disturbed natural soils. The identified anthropogenic soil cover patterns in recreation areas have no analogues among natural soil cover patterns. The typology of soil combinations in anthropogenically modified landscapes requires further elaboration.

The asteroid impact near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on 15 February 2013 was the largest airburst on Earth since the 1908 Tunguska event, causing a natural disaster in an area with a population exceeding one million. Because it occurred in an era with modern consumer electronics, field sensors, and laboratory techniques, unprecedented measurements were made of the impact event and the meteoroid that caused it. Here, we document the account of what happened, as understood now, using comprehensive data obtained from astronomy, planetary science, geophysics, meteorology, meteoritics, and cosmochemistry and from social science surveys. A good understanding of the Chelyabinsk incident provides an opportunity to calibrate the event, with implications for the study of near-Earth objects and developing hazard mitigation strategies for planetary protection.