Melting Permafrost Due to Climate Change Threatens Gas and Oil Network in Russia, Causes Oil Spill

Last week, an oil spill occurred in Norilsk City, Siberia at the Arctic Circle due to melting permafrost, which endangers Russia's gas and oil network and worsens climate change. A storage tank containing diesel oil amounting to 21,000 liters collapsed, spilling 6,000 tons on the ground and spilling 15,000 tons on a river and other bodies of water. The red-dye oil processed for use in heating houses and other structures caused a large part of Ambarnaya River to run red.

Majority of the oil network in Russia had been built on hard permafrost. Unfortunately, it is now rapidly melting during the last ten years, which threatens to collapse the network. Due to the melting permafrost foundation, production of the gas and oil facilities declined from 2-20% since the '90s. It has also endangered the current facilities and development plans being constructed intended to supply China with gas and oil.

According to the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, the spill occurred because the supporting posts of the storage tank basement suddenly sank. Permafrost is composed of frozen soil, gravel, and sand. It is a layer made of mostly ice, which maintains its structure and serves to trap carbon dioxide and methane.

The two major kinds of permafrost are contiguous & discontiguous permafrost. The former has been frozen for millennia and even millions of years; meanwhile, the latter is classified into two categories, the scattered and seasonal permafrost. The former is constantly in a mountain's shadow, while the latter typically melts during summer.

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So far, the cleanup of the spill already cost 1.5 billion dollars and counting. The contiguous or year-round permafrost has been found to melt for the first time. The foundation, which used to be as reliable as concrete, is now slowly warming and melting.

During the past century, the permafrost of the planet warmed by 6º C. If before, the top permafrost layer that melted during summer would freeze again during winter, the situation is now different. The layer that melted during summer does not freeze anymore during winter, so that when summer again comes, an additional lower layer melts, since the layer above it did not freeze during the past winter.

Majority of the gas and oil fields in Russia are under permafrost, while majority of their pipelines run over it. The pipelines slated for construction intended for the Chinese market are the most vulnerable.

This is the first oil spill of this kind. No tanker ship leaked it, nor did any pressure cause an oil head explosion. Instead, the building's foundation literally melted away. All infrastructures constructed on permafrost now have this risk. Permafrost is now rapidly melting, reaching a level of melting that scientists did not expect to happen for at least another 30 to 80 years.

Furthermore, the melting permafrost layer releases greenhouse gases, exacerbating global warming and climate change and melting even more permafrost layers, which releases even more gas, on and on in a dangerous positive feedback cycle. Unfortunately, the permafrost threat is currently poorly understood, and is more difficult to access and study.

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