Ground Temperature Regime after Surface Disturbance under Current Climatic Conditions in Central Yakutia

Abstract

In view of climate warming, there is a need for parameterization of boundary conditions in pre- dictive assessments of the ground temperature regime in cold regions. For this, an experimental study has been conducted at the Tuymaada monitoring site of Melnikov Permafrost Institute of the SB RAS to investi- gate the ground thermal regime following the removal of snow and vegetation covers. Field data have been collected for a two-year cycle. These data are compared with the findings from a similar study performed by

A.V. Pavlov in the early 1970s. During this period, the mean annual air temperature has increased by 2.6 °C. As a result, the mean annual ground temperature at a depth of 3 m has warmed by 0.6 °C at the undisturbed site and by 1.4 °C at the disturbed site, with the ground properties remaining virtually unchanged. It is there- fore evident that the current changes in climate and its elements should be taking into account during engi- neering design and ground temperature regime forecasts.