Heat and salt flow in subsea permafrost modeled with CryoGRID2

Thawing of subsea permafrost can impact offshore infrastructure, affect coastal erosion, and release permafrost organic matter. Thawing is usually modeled as the result of heat transfer, although salt diffusion may play an important role in marine settings. To better quantify nearshore subsea permafrost thawing, we applied the CryoGRID2 heat diffusion model and coupled it to a salt diffusion model. We simulated coastline retreat and subsea permafrost evolution as it develops through successive stages of a thawing sequence at the Bykovsky Peninsula, Siberia. Sensitivity analyses for seawater salinity were performed to compare the results for the Bykovsky Peninsula with those of typical Arctic seawater. For the Bykovsky Peninsula, the modeled ice‐bearing permafrost table (IBPT) for ice‐rich sand and an erosion rate of 0.25 m/year was 16.7 m below the seabed 350 m offshore. The model outputs were compared to the IBPT depth estimated from coastline retreat and electrical resistivity surveys perpendicular to and crossing the shoreline of the Bykovsky Peninsula. The interpreted geoelectric data suggest that the IBPT dipped to 15–20 m below the seabed at 350 m offshore. Both results suggest that cold saline water forms beneath grounded ice and floating sea ice in shallow water, causing cryotic benthic temperatures. The freezing point depression produced by salt diffusion can delay or prevent ice formation in the sediment and enhance the IBPT degradation rate. Therefore, salt diffusion may facilitate the release of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere and considerably affect the design of offshore and coastal infrastructure in subsea permafrost areas

On Russian/Nordic Investment Competition in the Baltic States

The researchers often overlook the relationships between Russian and Nordic investment capital; and even less attention is paid to studying the competition between the two. Yet this subject can be of particular relevance to the areas that are geographically, historically and culturally close to both Russia and the Nordic countries. Thus, the aim of this article is to understand how the competition between Russian and Nordic capital investment is played out in the Baltic States. The study discusses the principles of Russian and Nordic investment in the Baltic, and suggests ways to regulate these relations. To this end, we compare the investment conditions created in the Baltic States for both Russian and Nordic investors. The analysis shows that most of the Baltic market is controlled by the Nordic capital, which blocks the arrival of Russian investment to the Baltic States. With a nod to a number of previous studies, the authors of this article suggest some adjustments to the theory of foreign direct investment. The study will be also of practical interest to those Russian investors who are seeking entry points to the Baltic markets

Construction of transport and energy networks in the Baltic region as an impetus for regional development

In light of some new aspects of the EU functioning, particularly, the recovery from the 2008-2009 global crisis, transportation and energy development projects are coming to the forefront in the Baltic region. At the same time, there is a need to consider EU’s recent adoption of a common seven-year financial program (2014—2020), which serves, in effect, as the Union’s budget. Given that, one may conclude that the countries of the Baltic region are entering a new stage of development. We look at the role and significance of transportation and energy projects as an instrument of economic development. Having studied the largest transport and energy projects in the Baltic region, we were able to show that the new infrastructure networks supported the investment expansion of Swedish and Finnish companies into the post-communist countries of the Baltic Region. Which, in its turn, allowed the Nordic investors to expand their domestic markets. The analysis also shows that the experience of private businesses proves a recent theoretical concept — the pyramid of regional development factors. As a result, the actual regional policy of the EU cannot be considered in the narrow sense of the Cohesion Policy alone

The Visegrad Group and the Baltic Assembly: coalitions within the EU as seen through Russian foreign policy

Today Russia has difficulty doing business-as-usual with EU states. It seems that the countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) and the Baltic Assembly/Baltic Council of Ministers (BA/BСM) have contributed substantially to this state of affairs. Overall, the tensions between Russia and the EU are building up - another tendency that did not arise on the Russian initiative. This article aims to address the question of whether Russia should establish direct relations with the V4 and the BA/BCM as tools to overcome the mentioned difficulties. On the one hand, these associations date back to before the countries acceded to the Union. On the other, they are products of regionalisation in the EU. In answering this question, we achieve three objectives. Firstly, we look for an appropriate theoretical and methodological framework for the study. Secondly, we produce a comparative description of the V4 and the BA/BCM. Thirdly, we examine the capacity of these associations to pursue an independent foreign and domestic policy. This study uses a comparison method to analyse the activities of the two organisations and identify their significance for the EU

Engineering and Geophysical Research of the Tailing Dump under the Conditions of Growing Soils of the Base

The relevance of the work is due to the risks of an uncontrolled increase in circulating water leaks through sides and bed of the dam, caused by thawing of permafrost soils in the Far North. The main aim of the work is to scientifically substantiate a set of engineering measures to reduce filtration consumption and restore and maintain the waterproofing of the tailing dump. The object of the study was the tailing dump of the concentration plant, with adjoining filter walls. The tailing dump has been exploited since 1996; for the last 20 years, circulating water leaks into the shunting tank located below were recorded. Within the water area of the tailing dump and at the landfalls, geophysical surveys were carried out from ice by the TEM (transient electromagnetic) method. The obtained geoelectric sections made it possible to form a holistic view of the structure of the filtration zones in the right and left bank junctions. The data obtained will be used for planning anti-filtration arrangement

Heat and salt flow in subsea permafrost modelled with CryoGRID2

Degradation of sub-aquatic permafrost can impact offshore infrastructure, affect coastal erosion and release large quantities of methane, which may reach the atmosphere and function as a positive feedback to climate warming. The degradation rate depends on the duration of inundation, warming rate, sediment characteristics, the coupling of the bottom to the atmosphere through bottom-fast ice, and brine injections into the sediment. We apply the Cryo-GRID2 model, coupled to a salt diffusion model, to near-shore subsea permafrost thawing offshore of the Bykovsky Peninsula in Siberia. We model permafrost through multiple settings, including 1) terrestrial permafrost, 2) shallow sea with ice grounding, and 3) shallow offshore sea (<= 5.3m depth) without ice grounding. The model uses a terrestrial permafrost temperature of -10 °C at the depth of zero annual amplitude, based on borehole observations, and a coastal erosion rate of 0.5 m/year, based on historical remote sensing imagery dating back to 1951. The seawater salinity prior to ice formation is based on a series of conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) measurements from summer 2017, as well as from Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite data. Water depth is available from echo-sounding surveys made in parallel with floating electrode electrical resistivity surveys in summer 2017. The model outputs are compared to the depth of the ice-bearing permafrost table (IBPT) determined from an electrical resistivity survey perpendicular to the shoreline. The floating electrode survey was combined with a terrestrial resistivity survey to show the transition from undisturbed terrestrial permafrost to submerged permafrost. The geoelectric surveys show a gently inclining IBPT table perpendicular to the coastline, which can be explained by a decreasing rate of degradation with increasing period of inundation. As the inundation period increases, the diffusive (heat and salt) gradients become less steep. The IBPT is located 20 m below the seabed 300 m offshore, which corresponds to 600 years of coastal erosion and an average IBPT degradation rate of 0.33 m per decade. The modelling results show an IBPT 18 m below the seabed and salty sediment up to 14 m below the seabed 300 m offshore. Therefore, the modelling results agree, at least qualitatively, with the sediment state inferred from the geoelectric data. Coupled heat and salt diffusion produces profiles of temperature and salt concentration in sediment as a function of time. The inclusion of salt flow in thermal models is particularly important in shallow waters where cryotic sediments form due to negative benthic water temperatures or ice grounding, because the depressed freezing point produced by salt diffusion can delay or prevent ice formation in the sediments and enhance the IBPT degradation rate

Hydrochemical Anomalies in the Vicinity of the Abandoned Molybdenum Ores Processing Tailings in a Permafrost Region (Shahtama, Transbaikal Region)

The mobility of chemical elements during the transition from molybdenum ore processing waste to aqueous solutions and the hydrochemical anomalies of a number of elements in surface and underground waters in the vicinity of an abandoned tailings dump were investigated. It is shown that alkaline and alkaline earth metals have high mobility—the main rock-forming components (sodium, lithium, magnesium, strontium), which are released into solution due to leaching from the minerals of the host rocks, as well as metals with zinc, cadmium, manganese, and nickel, which are released into solution due to the dissolution of ore sulfides. Elements with high mobility include Sb, Co, Cu, Be, Se, and Tl. Medium mobility has As, an element of the first hazard class, as well as Mo, Fe, and Pb. Hydrochemical anomalies of cadmium, arsenic, molybdenum, and lead have been determined. The nature of the arsenic and molybdenum anomalies is most likely related to the regional background, while the source of cadmium and lead is most likely the waste studied. The main chemical forms of the presence of elements in the solution of ponds on the surface of tailings ponds are free-ion and sulfate complexes. For example, in the samples of the Shakhtama River and groundwater, we found carbonate, bicarbonate, and hydroxide complexes. The information obtained should be taken into account when planning measures for the purification of surface and groundwater from metals. Additional studies should consider using groundwater in the vicinity of the tailings for drinking water supply