ИСТИНА

As a northern country Russia has rigorous climate. About 2/3 of Russia is occupied by permafrost, almost all country is covered by snow during winters. Ice jaws are typical for most of rivers in the northern part of Russia whereas snow avalanches are widespread in mountains. Cryosphere-related hazards lead to significant economic losses in most of Russian regions. For example, decrease of bearing capacity for piles led to annual losses up 2 bln. USD just for oil fields in Western Siberia. Currently we observe: i) growth of winter temperature; ii) increase of snow thickness; iii) increment of active layer and permafrost temperature; iiii) decrease of ice thickness at rivers; iiiii) glacier downwasting. Processes listed above accompanied by increasing land use activity lead to growing impact of cryosphere-related hazards. To investigate how cryospheric hazards impact on economy and society we selected key sites located in different environment (urban areas in Siberia and Russian North, mountains in the Caucasus) and suffered from different hazards (permafrost hazards, floods caused by ice jaws, mountain hazards). We analyzed situation for key sites and conclude that hazard level and associated damage has been increased in early 21st century. Projected climate change will lead to heterogeneous response of cryosphere-related hazards: in some areas situation will become more stable whereas in others will be more stressful.