Latest Developments from the TerrArctic Project Focusing on Polar Regions and Climate Change Risks

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce, faculty member of the ITU Environmental Engineering Department, shared the latest developments following field research in the polar regions of Russia regarding the TerrArctic Project, of which he is the scientific director and research leader.

Our faculty member from Department of Environmental Engineering, Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce, became the scientific director and research leader of the TerrArctic Mega Grand Grant Project last June. The project, funded by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Tyumen State Government, is being carried out under the coordination of Tyumen State University Vice-Rector Prof. Andrey Tolstikov and the technical responsibility of the Director of the Research Institute for Ecology and Rational Use of Natural Resources, Prof. Andrey Soromotin.

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce continued his field research in the last week of October by visiting regions within the Russian Arctic. He shared his findings from the field. The TerrArctic Project is expected to lead Russia to begin developing short-, medium-, and long-term action plans to minimize problems in its area of responsibility next year.

The project aims to better understand the negative effects of climate change by sampling, observing, and measuring data from designated pilot regions. The project's outputs are crucial for the entire world. It is planned to set an example in combating the multifaceted effects of climate change through practical applications and field improvement studies.

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce stated that the warming of tundra and permafrost regions has caused significant changes. Prof. Dr. İnce explained that the thawing of icy soil rapidly releases methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change and thus potential negative consequences such as epidemics, migration movements, water, food, and energy crises will affect people in various ways.

The expected negative effects of melting frozen soil and glaciers are numerous. These include the release of heavy metals, especially mercury, and prehistoric frozen pathogens foreign to our immune system into the water and soil, the formation of many new lakes called “baby lakes”, the loss of agricultural lands, the annual collapse of settlements, roads, pipelines and industrial zones, and the difficulty in accessing clean water and healthy food.

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce, who emphasized that these problems are easy to solve with scientific and engineering experience, drew attention to the need for an international consensus. He emphasized the need to develop the implementation practices of the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Our faculty member stated that the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report predicts a potential temperature increase of 3.5°C by 2080, which is a cause for concern. He also pointed out that 12 countries and regions, including Russia, Alaska (USA), Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, will experience similar problems in the Arctic region, that significant parts of some countries' lands will be flooded, and that there will be migration to the northern regions of the world due to desertification and drought.

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce participated in podcast broadcasts with AA in July and October as part of the TerrArctic Project. Last week, he discussed the problems caused by melting glaciers and shared current findings in a video news segment.