X-Message-Number: 3430 Date: 29 Nov 94 02:43:37 EST From: John de Rivaz <> Subject: CRYONICS:permafrost ideas This article is in the current Longevity Report, due to be mailed shortly. Anyone interested in an emailed contents list of the entire magazine since it started, please contact me. SUGGESTIONS FOR RUSSIAN PERMAFROST BURIAL PROJECT By Douglas Skrecky Michael Soloviov's permafrost burial project in Russian Lapland might be better off if it started operations further east. According to my sources there exists only discontinuous permafrost in this area. Investing in a mineshaft or some such property to obtain an adequate burial site in Lapland might be more expensive than utlizing established cemetaries located east in the continuous permafrost zone. Judging from a map in an atlas there appears to be good transport conditions from the town of Konosha, south of Arkhangelsk to the city of Vorkuta, which lies northeast in the continuous permafrost zone. *1 Presumably certain cemetaries in this area could be used as low cost burial sites. If I am wrong in this here are some suggestions for finding islands of permafrost in Russian lapland. In North America permafrost is found in peatlands far south of even the discontinuous permafrost zone. *2 This is apparently due both to the insulating nature of peat in the summer and the fact that it is permeable to water vapor so that the permafrost can remain cool by sweating during the summer. *3 If peatlands are not available try examining valley bottoms and north facing slopes. In Canada valley bottoms in the discontinuous permafrost zone remain frozen all year because of the tendancy for cold air to sink into them during the winter. Northern slopes have generally also been found to be perennially frozen due to the reduced solar radiation these slopes recieve during the summer. *4 One could expect good results from mine shafts sunk into north facing slopes. As an additional inexpensive measure one could increase the albedo of the ground surface to reflect more of the sun's radiation. For example white paint on asphaltic concrete increases albedo from 13% to 38% and has been proven to help lower ground temperature. *5 For cemetary plots spreading some chalk or perlite on the ground would presumably have a similar effect. Expensive techniques used for stabilizing permafrost in North America include the use of buried 90 mm polystyrene boards and passive refrigeration with thermosyphons, which consist of sealed pipes enclosing a refrigerant. *6 *7 The disadvantage of the former is that polystyrene is impermeable to water vapour and so one would expect better results with permeable insulations of equivalent R value. The disadvantage of thermosyphons is that if they ever develop a leak the cooling effect provided during the winter would be lost. A better, more long lasting alternative would be to use a permeable insulation such as perlite, vermiculite or even peat as when these freeze in the winter their insulating value is reduced so that the ground temperature could then be lowered by thermal conduction from the cold winter air. It is only during the summer that insulation is desired, during the winter it is counterproductive. In my opinion teaming desiccation with permafrost burial makes more sense as a business proposition than offering permafrost burial by itself. Food kept frozen at temperatures typical of permafrost deteriorates at rates many orders of magnitude faster than dried rations. Desiccation plus permafrost burial is thus a vastly more desirable preservation technique than using just permafrost alone and so this service could be sold at a significantly higher price to prospective clients. Considering the fixed transportation costs to Russia I suspect that only a "deluxe" permafrost burial service would attract much interest from foreigners. The costs associated with this enhanced service need not be much higher if an in-package desiccant such as calcium oxide is added to the time capsule to dry tissue inexpensively during longterm storage. Offering a range of services would increase the potential client base as well as possibly increase profitability. Taking a cue from the American cryonicists, the option to preserve just the head or brain apparently reduced storage costs by as much as an order of magnitude, while the price this service is sold at is just half that of full body preservation. If permafrost burial ever becomes a 'mainstream' funeral home offering I strongly suspect it will involve primarily the lowest cost and most profitable option of preservation of just the head or brain. After all, from the standpoint of future reanimation chances the rest of the body is just so much dead weight. *1 "Climate Warming and the Carbon Cycle in the Permafrost Zone of the Former Soviet Union" Vol.4 149-163 1993 Permafrost and Periglacial Processes *2 "Cyclic Development of Permafrost in the Peatlands of Northwestern Alberta, Canada" Vol.25 No.3 240-246 1993 Arctic and Alpine Research *3 "What Makes Permafrost Permanent?" Vol.81 527-528 1993 American Scientist *4 "Permafrost and Ground Ice Conditions Reported During Geotechnical Investigations in the Mayo District, Yukon Territory" Vol.2 259-268 1991 Permafrost and Periglacial Processes *5 "Effect of Color and Texture on the Surface Temperature of Asphalt Concrete Pavements" Fourth International Permafrost Conference July 17-22,1983 57-61 *6 "Performance of an Insulated Roadway on Permafrost Inuvik, N.W.T." Fourth International Permafrost Conference July 17-22,1983 548-551 *7 "Using Passive Refrigeration to Stabilize Foundations in Cold Climates" 32-37 September 1993 ASHRAE Journal Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3430