Scientists warn of danger due to large forest fires in Yakutia

MOSCOW, May 23. Large forest fires, increasingly occurring in the territory of Yakutia, can cause active melting of the eternal permafrost and uneven soil subsidence in the region, warns the All-Russian Research Institute for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations (VNII GOChS).
“»Increasing frequency of forest fires can lead to the degradation of permafrost in Yakutia,» says a message on the website of the All-Russian Research Institute of Civil Defense and Emergencies.
It is noted that such a forecast was made by a young scientist of the institute, Elena Mashkova, giving a report on the impact of natural fires on the degradation of the permafrost zone in Yakutia at the annual IX All-Russian scientific and practical conference «Potapov Readings-2024», which was organized by the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering together with VNII GOChS.

It is emphasized that the speaker also justified the increase in the future due to the increasing frequency of thermokarst forest fires in Yakutia.

Thermokarst is a process of uneven subsidence of soils and underlying rocks due to the melting of underground ice, accompanied by the appearance of lake basins and sinkholes in the soil. Cryolithozone is a part of the rock that has a negative temperature.