The first complex academic expedition in the Arctic within last 20 years started on July 27. The field stage began in Taimyr and the Norilsk industrial area with the participation of the scientists from Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Barnaul and Yakutsk.
The expedition is headed by Nikolay Yurkevich, a specialist in the study of technogenic systems and fields, and the production of hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves, who has experience in solving seismic exploration problems from the North Sea to South America and Australia. It is also reported that in the plan of measures aimed at increasing the level of industrial safety at the company’s facilities, which Nornickel presented to Rostekhnadzor, special attention is paid to the state of permafrost. It is planned to organize systematic monitoring of the state of permafrost zones and the impact of climatic fluctuations on them.
“The assessment of the consequences of anthropogenic impact on the territories around Norilsk and ecological forecast for the future is extremely important, but it is not the final goal of the expedition. Its mission is to develop a substantiated set of recommendations on long-term environmentally friendly management of the Arctic resources for not only Nornickel, but also other corporations and companies, government and regulatory bodies. Therefore, today we are considering a scenario for transferring the expedition to a permanent mode”, noted Valentin Parmon, scientific leader of the Big Norilsk Expedition, chairman of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The expedition detachment consists of 26 people and is divided into specialized groups: on terrestrial ecosystems, hydrobiology, bottom sediments, bio- and zoological diversity and permafrost. The scientists will have to examine not only the vicinity of Norilsk, but also the basins of the Pyasina (up to the confluence with the Kara Sea), Ambarnaya, Daldykan rivers, Lama and Pyasino lakes.
Earlier, the This is Taimyr wrote that the mission of the expedition is much broader than the range of local environmental issues. It is assumed that its results will form the basis of a new concept and principles of management in the Arctic zone of Russia.
Text: Mikhail Tuaev, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
