Ninth International Symposium on Permafrost Engineering
October 2011, Mirny, Yakutia, Russia
 
Dear Colleagues,
 
The Melnikov Permafrost Institute (Yakutsk, Russia), the Cold and Arid Regions Engineering and Environmental Research Institute (Lanzhou, China) and the Heilongjiang Institute of Cold Region Engineering (Harbin, China) are pleased to announce the Ninth International Symposium on Permafrost Engineering to be held in Mirny, Yakutia, in early October 2011. The Symposium is a regular event, the previous ones being held in 1993 Chita, Russia; 1996 Harbin, China; 1998 Chita, Russia; 2000 Lanzhou, China; 2002 Yakutsk, Russia; 2004 Lanzhou, China; 2007 Chita, Russia; and 2009 Xi’an, China.
 
We hope that the 2011 Symposium will bring together researchers and engineers who work in cold/permafrost regions to discuss the ways and means for early detection of adverse frost-related processes that may cause tremendous economic loss and environmental damage, as well as to provide climate change adaptation measures based on permafrost monitoring and experimental research on frozen soil/rock mechanics.
 
Mirny is the center of the Russian diamond-mining industry. It is located on the Irelyakh River (Vilyui’s basin, western Yakutia), 1207 kilometers west of Yakutsk and 4200 km from Moscow. The population is 36,600 (2009). Mirny was founded in 1955 after the discovery of a kimberlite pipe which was named Mir (‘peace’). Between 1957 and 2001 the Mir Mine was operated as an open pit diamond mine. By 2001, the pit was 525 m deep and 1200 m in diameter, having become one of the largest excavations in the world. Mir is now being conversed into an underground mine. Mir and other diamond mines in Yakutia are operated by Alrosa Co. The town is served by Mirny Airport. Commercial airlines connect Mirny to Moscow, Yakutsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, as well as to the rest of Yakutia.
 
The Symposium will be hosted by the Vilyui Permafrost Research Station of the Melnikov Permafrost Institute. The Station is located in the town of Chernyshevsky near Mirny and provides scientific support for the Alrosa Co. hydraulic facilities, Vilyui Hydro dam and reservoir, power line support foundations, and Mirny infrastructure.
 
Planning Schedule
 
September 2010 – First Circular (Symposium themes, organizing committee, sponsors, abstract submission details; preliminary pre-registration and abstract submission deadline - December 2010).
February 2011 – Second Circular (paper submission details; preliminary deadline for paper submission - May 2011)
May 2011 – Symposium program
May-July 2011 – Paper review process
August 2011 – Publication of Symposium proceedings
Early October – Symposium and post-symposium trip
 
Organizing Committee
Permafrost Institute, Yakutsk