The Yenisei Makes the Weather: The Microclimate of the Krasnoyarsk Dam and Its Research, 1960s–1990s

Abstract When Soviet authorities began building the Krasnoyarsk Dam in 1956, the Yenisei River had an ice‐free period of only 112 days a year. The thick and long‐lasting ice impeded dam building and navigation. However, as the dam rose, it produced an environmental anomaly; for more than 200 kilometers downstream, the Yenisei became ice‐free year‐round. This led to a change of microclimate in the Yenisei basin. This article adds nuance to our conceptualization of melting glaciers and icecaps, and thawing permafrost, as harbingers of imminent global climate change. The unfreezing of the Siberian river induced an anthropogenic climate change that could, in theory, benefit the local population. But this unintended consequence of large dam building led the Soviet scientific community to take a skeptical attitude toward purposeful modification of climate to make it more favorable. Like with the global climate crisis, Soviet and post‐Soviet scientists sought ways to mitigate human impact. “Is it possible,” they asked, “to freeze the Yenisei?” Today, the effects of the dam‐related climate change endure and exacerbate the air pollution in the Krasnoyarsk region. But a technological solution to curtail it has not been found.