May 6, 2019

Field Investigations along the Power of Siberia Route

The MPI field team comprising landscape scientists, hydrogeologists, geochemists, and geophysicists conducted field surveys along the Power of Siberia Pipeline route during the period from March 11 to April 15, 2019. This field campaign was a second stage of the contract project aimed at assessing potential permafrost-related hazards associated with pipeline construction and climate change (2018-2020, Project PI: V.V. Samsonova). Specifically, field work included forest-ROW-embankment snow surveys along the pipeline corridor, UAV topographic mapping of icings and valleys, icing water sampling, hydrological measurements of streams and icing meltwater, and direct observation of natural and pipeline-induced icings for spatial and genetic characterization. These studies provide baseline information on permafrost hazards along the Power of Siberia Pipeline corridor and will be continued during pipeline operation. (Photographs by N. Fedorov, MPI)

 

 
Aerial view of Bolshaya Cherepanikha valley.