The Russian Oil Spill - The Bigger Picture

When the news about the oil spill in Norilsk spread across the corners of the world, the only reaction on all social media platforms was;

Parallelly, there have been multiple instances of high temperatures being recorded in towns and cities near the arctic circle and forest fires raging through the arctic circle for a few years now. So, that cannot be a coincidence. There indeed was a connection between the two incidents. Yes, climate change was the reason for the oil spill.

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Before going ahead...

1. Permafrost: It is any mass of land/soil/stone or rock that has been frozen for over two years to thousands of years. There are high chances of this extending below the ground as well.

2. Thawing: It is basically transforming something from a frozen state to its original state due to an increase in temperature. This is often confused with melting but they are different. For eg, When you have frozen meat and ice cream in the refrigerator, the frozen meat is thawed while the ice cream melts.

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Permafrost, an area of concern?

First things first, permafrost is not a small piece of land or an area confined only to the arctic circle. The reason why permafrost and its thawing is an area of concern is,

In terms of size: only in the northern hemisphere, permafrost land covers around 9 million square miles, which is Canada, China, and the USA combined. 65% of Russia (mostly Siberia) consists of permafrost. Around 35 million people live in permafrost areas.

In terms of infrastructure: Due to climate change, the permafrost is thawing, and infrastructure built on such land has started to become unstable. In Russia, plenty of buildings are getting cracked, foundations have become weak, buildings are collapsing as they were built on permafrost land. In Canada, due to the thawing of permafrost, millions of dollars are spent on the maintenance of buildings built on such land. According to a study, by the end of the century, we would have spent billions of dollars on repair and maintenance of infrastructure.

Source: The Guardian 

In terms of Ecology: When plants, animals, and humans die, they decompose and during this process, harmful greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere such as carbon and methane. According to reports, the amount of carbon that is trapped within the permafrost is twice as much as carbon present in the atmosphere. There is also a good amount of methane that is present in the atmosphere and methane attracts 10 times more heat than carbon. Within the permafrost, lies even Mercury (Approx 15 Million Gallons) Now imagine if the permafrost thaws, the ecological impact would be beyond imagination.

In terms of Health: Apart from greenhouse gases, the permafrost holds many bacteria and viruses which have remained frozen underground. With the thawing of permafrost, these bacterias and viruses can become active again. The latest case was in 2016, where anthrax became active again in the permafrost region. You never know, the bodies that were infected with smallpox or the Spanish flu could have been buried in this region and the thawing could lead to a new outbreak?

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How does thawing lead to forest fires?

The three elements required to start a fire are oxygen, fuel, and source for ignition. Oxygen is widely present in the environment. Fuel in terms of carbon and methane is available in the environment with the thawing of permafrost. Source for ignition, usually lightning is very rare in the arctic region as it was always cold and had less moisture. But with the temperature there increasing, the air contains enough heat for lightning to strike.

Source: BBC

How is this a vicious cycle?

With the temperature in the arctic region increasing, the thawing of permafrost also increases. The outcome of the thawing is the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon and methane into the atmosphere which traps more heat. As the wind in the area gets warmer, lightning begins which leads to an Arctic fire. Due to this fire, the thawing of permafrost picks up speed thus, releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and along with that soot is also released into the atmosphere. Soot is nothing but black particles left over after a fire. Soot is then released into the air and settles down on the ice. Usually, since large areas of ice are white, they reflect the heat but now with the soot settling down on white ice, these fires trap heat and increase the thawing process. This is how the thawing of permafrost becomes a vicious cycle that leads to Arctic fires.

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The Norilsk Oil Spill

Source: rferl.org

Here is the reason for the spill - the storage container that was built on permafrost land failed. With the increasing temperature in the Arctic region, the thawing has gained speed. The oil spill is just the start. There is a lot of infrastructures built on permafrost land, ranging from households to oil refineries to industrial establishments. The area of permafrost land is discussed above.

If the temperatures start to warm at this rate then, 40 % of the world's permafrost will be lost within this century. This obviously will have consequences as this permafrost in the Arctic region holds about 1400 gigatonnes of carbon. (1 Gt = 1,000,000,000,000 kg). If we still do not prioritize climate change, god help us!