At the BRICS scientific conference they predicted the fate of St. Petersburg: it threatens to turn into Hamburg

The deputy chairman of the Committee for Environmental Management of the northern capital told how its climate will change in the future

Climate change, using the specific example of St. Petersburg, was described to the participants of the first BRICS scientific and practical conference by the Deputy Chairman of the City Environmental Management Committee, Ivan Serebritsky.

Scientists have studied all aspects that will change the life of the northern capital in the coming years if measures are not taken to adapt to them. One of the most painful points was the floods.

“Despite the fact that a dam, a flood protection structure, came into operation in St. Petersburg in 2011, the number of floods is increasing,” notes Serebritsky. – Even the dam itself is exposed to the influence of storms, the most powerful of which have recently moved from September-October to November-December, as in the Kaliningrad region. Our best coastal areas are being eroded, recreational areas are being washed away, sandy beaches are being carried away into the sea, and in their place there is stone. Climatologists come to the conclusion that, according to a number of scenarios, the climate of St. Petersburg in 20-25 years can be compared with the climatic conditions of Hamburg. It is characterized by mild winters with little ice and cool, wet summers. That is, from our continental climate with warm summers, the climate will turn into a maritime climate – moderately warm, with uniform moisture.

Scientists in St. Petersburg have prepared a diagram of flood zones if such a scenario occurs. If we also take into account the rise in sea level, their areas, according to the speaker, will increase significantly.

What does this mean for the city? In addition to the above-mentioned losses of beaches, in the monument city, as St. Petersburg is sometimes called for its large number of monuments and palaces, by the end of the 21st century more than 4.5 thousand monuments may be negatively affected.

Ivan Serebritsky also emphasized the changing nature of precipitation that affects the city over the past decades:

“It’s not so much their volume that has increased, but their intensity,” he said. – Therefore, drainage systems do not allow removing from the streets the volumes of water that enter per unit of time. St. Petersburg is threatened by increasingly frequent storms and hurricanes – just last year, wind speeds of up to 30 (!) meters per second were recorded in the waters of Neva Bay – as well as heat waves, which, like cold waves, can lead to thousands of potential deaths.

In this regard, the Natural Resources Management Committee made a proposal to change the regulatory framework for builders. Any city, according to the speaker, is a stone bag: when the temperature rises, it adds heat due to the fact that there are not enough zones that would allow it to be reduced naturally. By such zones, Serebritsky meant additional parks and public gardens. Roads and roofs with increased levels of reflectivity would also help reduce temperatures, he said.

As for strengthening the coastline, in particular, increasing the resistance of beaches to surge floods, it turns out that even… cabanas can influence it. Scientists have proven that if they are installed correctly, the piles on which they are attached can resist coastal erosion.

In general, the list of the Committee’s proposals amounted to 17 points, experts are waiting for their approval.