ИСТИНА

Northern landscapes structural and functional organization is determined by the permafrost temperature and ice content, depth of seasonal thawing, protective vegetation properties. These factors determine the cryogenic processes development: thermokarst, thermal erosion, solifluction, frost heaving et al. The landscape sustainability means their ability to resist the technological activation of those processes. Main permafrost characteristics needed in the human impacts study are considered under the "environmental perspective". Their zonal and regional changes often affect the ecological situation in different directions. The landscape permafrost ecological state evaluation takes into account the lithocryogenic stability and bioresource value. This allows you to highlight areas of varying degrees of danger for engineering objects and biota preservation. The formation of different ecological situations based on the consideration of two factors: the degree of mechanical damage of the topsoil cover as a result of the impact of engineering structures as well as overexploitation during deer pasturing, and the potential landscape resistance to these types of damage. Each situation is characterized by a specific set of cryogenic processes with different intensity. During the environmental assessment the following data are used: the area affected by the processes, their speed of development and attenuation, the degree of natural landscapes disturbances, the threat to the functioning of engineering structures. To stabilize disturbed landscapes a strategy for environmental management, including engineering and bio recultivation, snow, heat and water reclamation, resource protection, etc. is proposed.