Arctic Spotlight: Climate Change, Permafrost, and the Impact on Infrastructure

by Caitlin Briska

When Leona Goodhope of Shishmaref, North Alaska went to school on the mainland one day, she did not expect to come home to a spot where her house used to be.  Her home had been moved to the other side of the village because authorities decided that it would have imminently fallen into the sea beside it (Jordan, 2006).  The entire village of Shishmaref, which has been inhabited for 400 years, is facing evacuation due to rising temperatures and thawing permafrost, which is causing intense erosion along the coastline (Jordan, 2006).  Yakutsk, a Russian city built over permafrost in central Siberia, has suffered severe damage to its infrastructure from thawing permafrost.  In 1998, Yakutsk was declared a natural disaster area; the extent of the damage in Yakutsk was too much for the government to handle and the responsibility for repair of the city was transferred to the private sector.  Many buildings in Yakutsk built after 1940 were built for conditions of permafrost but the rapidly rising temperatures in the Arctic were more than expected (Nelson et al., 2001).  These are just two examples out of many in which thawing permafrost has caused damage to infrastructure in the Arctic.

The average temperature in the Arctic has risen almost twice as fast as the temperatures in lower latitudes (Corell, 2006).  Although most greenhouse gases do not originate in the Arctic, they are projected to bring about widespread changes. These Arctic changes will impact the planet as a whole because of the future effect on the abundant natural resources such as oil and gas (Corell, 2006). For this reason, people outside the Arctic have a great stake in what is happening there.    

            Permafrost is perennially frozen ground that remains at or below 0ºC for at least two consecutive years (Hinkel et al., 2003).  Permafrost covers approximately 24% of the land surfaces in the Northern Hemisphere, and exists on the coastlines around the Arctic landmasses (Hinkel et al., 2003).   Above the permafrost layer exists the active layer, it is the layer of ground subject to annual freezing and thawing (Hinkel et al., 2003).  When the climate gets warmer, the active layer thickens and ice-rich permafrost right below the active layer thaws.  When the surface of the permafrost thaws, the ground sinks and a thaw settlement is formed.  Thaw settlements are typically uneven and create small hills and valleys called thermokarst terrain (Hinkel et al., 2003).  When thermokarst forms under structures such as roads, houses, and pipelines, structural integrity is threatened.  Thermokarst terrain can also occur on coastlines which makes them more vulnerable to encroaching sea water (Hinkel et al., 2003).

            Over 160 communities in Alaska thrive in areas of permafrost (Hinkel et al., 2003). Areas with frozen ground have typically been a vital part of engineering in cold areas for their considerable weight capacity (Nelson et al., 2001).  There is a large risk to Alaskan communities’ infrastructure because thawing permafrost loses strength and volume causing a failure in the foundations of many buildings (Hinkel et al., 2003).  Future climate change will disrupt transportation and industry, including oil and gas extraction, because of the shortening of the periods during which ice roads and tundra are frozen sufficiently to permit travel (Corell, 2006). As permafrost thaws, many existing buildings, roads, pipelines, airports, and industrial facilities will be destabilized, requiring substantial rebuilding, maintenance, and investment (Corell, 2006). In addition, thawing permafrost causes coastlines to erode faster than normal, creating a serious problem for structures located close to coastlines (Corell, 2006).

The costs connected with rehabilitating or abandoning these communities’ infrastructure damaged by thawing permafrost will be high.  The thawing of permafrost has resulted in numerous cases of expensive fixes or abandoned facilities in the Arctic. During the construction of new facilities, new techniques will have to be invented.  Even buildings that have been designed for ice-rich permafrost will not survive untouched if the temperature rises to the point that systems designed to maintain permafrost in its frozen state no longer function sufficiently (Hinkel et al., 2003).  The only fix for these structures is expensive artificial refrigeration of the ground below and around the structure (Hinkel et al., 2003). 

Damaged infrastructure will not just affect Alaskans but has the potential to affect the entire world.  Warming in the Arctic and consequential thawing permafrost has the potential to effect the foundations of the elevated portions of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, which has the ability to affect the oil flow in Alaska and throughout the entire world.  There are also large infrastructures on the North Slope in Alaska, which provides oil to the pipeline.  Tens of billions of dollars of construction is responsible for drilling pads, production installations, injection plants, pump stations, and hundreds of miles of feeder pipelines (Hinkel et al., 2003).  A large price tag would be attached if permafrost thaws under the entire infrastructure of the North Slope.

The thawing of permafrost caused by future climate change has serious, long-term economic and social implications for the entire world.  Infrastructure in the Arctic and inhabitants of the permafrost rich areas are in serious danger.  In addition, inhabitants of the rest of the world will be seriously affected by a disruption in the flow of natural resources coming from the Arctic.          

References

Corell, R.W. “Challenges of Climate Change: An Arctic Perspective.” AMBIO: A Journal on the Human Environment. 35.4 (2006): 148-152.

Hinkel, K.M., Nelson F.E., Parker W., Romanovsky V., Smith O., Tucker W., Vinson T., & Brigham L.W. “Climate Change, Permafrost, and Impacts on Civil Infrastructure.” 2003. U.S. Arctic Research Commission. 30 November 2007 <http://www.arctic.gov/files/PermafrostForWeb.pdf>

Jordan, James W. “Human and Economic Indicators – Shishmaref.”  2006. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 30 November 2007 <http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/human-shishmaref.shtml>

Nelson, Frederick E., Anismov, Oleg A., & Shiklomanov, Nikolay I. “Subsidence risk from thawing permafrost.” Nature. 410.6831 (2001): 889.

Nelson, Frederick E. et al. “Climate Change and Hazard Zonation in the Circum-Arctic Permafrost Regions.” Natural Hazards.  26.3 (2002): 203-227