#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The results of the second season of the joint field school of the Polar and Moscow State Universities students in Norilsk have been summed up. At a joint meeting of two groups of future specialists in the field of geology and permafrost science with mentors from the Polar State University and heads of the Nornickel Polar Branch specialized areas, the results of summer field research not only in the Norilsk industrial region, but also in Taimyr as a whole were presented.
If we compare the results of the work with previous field research, now students and specialists have begun studying the material at already prepared sites with the prospect of further use of the information. This primarily concerns monitoring the temperature regime of soils using telemetry equipment and geophysical monitoring of the adjacent territory.
Joint research with Moscow State University in Taimyr will enrich scientists of the only geocryology department in the country at Lomonosov University, which studies permafrost problems, with new knowledge. The university researchers conducted research in Norilsk back in the 60-70s of the last century, on the basis of which a number of scientific papers were published, practice was studied and specialists in the field of permafrost were trained. Joint field schools of the two universities, in fact, restored the almost lost connection and continued the research started by previous generations of scientists, replenished the scientific base.
“In addition to general educational experience, our practice can be useful to colleagues for writing dissertations, and, more importantly in a broad sense, the information we received is quite valuable and is not in the public domain, it will be useful for creating mathematical models for further forecasting”, shares first-year master’s student Alexandra Shahova.
Mathematical modeling has already been applied at some of the sites, which has established that permafrost degradation is still occurring. But it is important to take into account that both developed methods of soil thermal stabilization and promising ones exist and are being applied, which can improve forecasting in this area and the use of preventive innovative technologies.
“The students of the current field school are great. In the future, we would like to see not only results in geophysics and field research, but also data on physical and mechanical changes in soils. The data is relevant in the context of discussions about climate change, its impact on permafrost, and is especially interesting from a sound scientific point of view, and not from an emotional standpoint. If any assistance is needed in these studies, the Nornickel Polar Division and the Polar State University are ready to help”, assured Anton Pryamitsky, the Nornickel Polar Division’s Scientific and Technical Support for the Operation of Buildings and Structures in the Far North department director.
Field school with the participation of PSU named after N.M. Fedorovsky and Lomonosov Moscow State University on the study and preservation of permafrost is just one of many successful examples of the company’s interaction with science. Nornickel has already become a center of expertise on a wide range of issues. The company has major research projects under its belt with the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences – the Great Norilsk Expedition and the Great Scientific Expedition for a large-scale study of the environment in the regions of presence, the results of which form the basis of the corporate system for managing the impact on biodiversity.
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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photo: author
