August 21, 2020


MPI Participates in the Great Norilsk Expedition

From August 3 to 18, Sergey Serikov and Pavel Zabolotnik took part in the Great Norilsk Expedition in northern Krasnoyarsk Krai. This large-scale, multidisciplinary expedition was initiated by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) in cooperation with Nornickel in response to a massive diesel oil spill in the Arctic city of Norilsk. The expedition will continue from July to November 2020 and involve scientists from 14 member-institutes of the SB RAS. Its overall objective is to gain a holistic understanding of on-going anthropogenic and natural changes in order to develop specific recommendations and a general concept of economic management in the changing Arctic.

The first phase of the expedition included collection of water, bottom sediments, soils and plants in the Pyasina, Norilka and Ambarnoe Rivers and Pyasino Lake, as well as permafrost characterization in the oil spill area. The MPI scientists measured permafrost temperatures and thaw depths in the immediate vicinity of the failed storage tank. They also used the portable thermal probe designed by MPI to measure thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the soils. Field observations, drilling logs and remote sensing data will be used to characterize the current and future state of permafrost in the area.

On May 29, 2020, a fuel storage tank in the Norilsk Power Plant-3 failed, discharging about 21,000 cubic meters of diesel oil into the ground and local rivers and contaminating an area of 350 square kilometers. The incident is described as one of the largest oil spills in the Arctic with potentially catastrophic consequences for the environment.

 

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