The Effects of Climate Change on Arctic Infrastructure

Download or read book The Effects of Climate Change on Arctic Infrastructure written by Edward Galonis and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Degradation of permafrost have induced irreversible damage to civil infrastructure across the Arctic. It is vital to build a resilient and adaptable civil infrastructure in the changing Arctic. The thermal state permafrost is sensitive to changing climatic conditions which causes the thawing of the frozen ground over the decades. These unprecedented changes are now threatening indigenous Arctic communities, urging them to consider community-wide relocations. Not only has the coastal areas been affected by the degrading permafrost, but the inland civil infrastructure has been affected as well with building foundations sinking and settling and the roadways being damaged due to the shifting soils beneath. This thesis reviews effective strategies and synthesis applicable approaches to build the climate-resilient civil infrastructure in Alaskan Arctic. This research had hypothesized that we will need to use more modern technology for design and reconstruction of foundations, roadways, bank erosion, railways, etc. to combat the thawing permafrost and to ensure the safety of the people. This challenge is a new concept to try and develop solutions due to the main factor of this issue being global warming which thaws the permafrost. The mitigation designs that will be closely looked at throughout the thesis will be multipoint foundations and thermosyphons. Both mitigation designs have been used in different locations of permafrost thawing areas and have been shown to have a positive effect on the infrastructure for which they are designed with.