Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011)
Many areas of the Arctic are simultaneously affected by rapid climate change and rapid industrial development.These areas are likely to increase in number and size as sea ice melts and abundant Arctic natural resources become more accessible. Documenting the changes that have already occurred is ess...
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2020
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dataone:doi:10.18739/A24X54H5D 2024-06-03T18:46:21+00:00 Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) Donald A. Walker Martha K. Raynolds Marcel Buchhorn Jana L. Peirce Yuri L. Shur Kenneth J. Ambrosius Mikhail Kanesvskiy Three 20-km^2 areas within the Alaska North Slope Prudhoe Bay Oilfield production unit (Maps A, B and C) have been mapped in detail for this cumulative impact study. ENVELOPE(-148.78664,-148.42488,70.32488,70.281006) BEGINDATE: 1949-01-01T00:00:00Z ENDDATE: 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.18739/A24X54H5D unknown Arctic Data Center Arctic climate change cumulative impacts geoecological mapping ice-rich permafrost ice-wedge polygons infrastructure photo-interpretation thermokarst tundra ARCSS ArcSEES Dataset 2020 dataone:urn:node:ARCTIC https://doi.org/10.18739/A24X54H5D 2024-06-03T18:16:43Z Many areas of the Arctic are simultaneously affected by rapid climate change and rapid industrial development.These areas are likely to increase in number and size as sea ice melts and abundant Arctic natural resources become more accessible. Documenting the changes that have already occurred is essential to inform management approaches to minimize the impacts of future activities. Here, we determine the cumulative geoecological effects of 62 years (1949-2011) of infrastructure- and climate-related changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, the oldest and most extensive industrial complex in the Arctic, and an area with extensive ice-rich permafrost that is extraordinarily sensitive to climate change. We demonstrate that thermokarst has recently affected broad areas of the entire region, and that a sudden increase in the area affected began shortly after 1990 corresponding to a rapid rise in regional summer air temperatures and related permafrost temperatures. We also present a conceptual model that describes how infrastructure-related factors, including road dust and roadside flooding are contributing to more extensive thermokarst in areas adjacent to roads and gravel pads. We mapped the historical infrastructure changes for the Alaska North Slope oilfields for 10 dates from the initial oil discovery in 1968-2011. By 2010, over 34% of the intensively mapped area was affected by oil development. In addition, between 1990 and 2001, coincident with strong atmospheric warming during the 1990s, 19% of the remaining natural landscapes (excluding areas covered by infrastructure, lakes and river floodplains) exhibited expansion of thermokarst features resulting in more abundant small ponds, greater microrelief, more active lakeshore erosion and increased landscape and habitat heterogeneity. This transition to a new geoecological regime will have impacts to wildlife habitat, local residents and industry. Dataset Alaska North Slope Arctic Climate change Ice north slope permafrost Prudhoe Bay Sea ice Thermokarst Tundra wedge* Alaska Arctic Data Center (via DataONE) Arctic ENVELOPE(-148.78664,-148.42488,70.32488,70.281006) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Arctic Data Center (via DataONE) |
op_collection_id |
dataone:urn:node:ARCTIC |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Arctic climate change cumulative impacts geoecological mapping ice-rich permafrost ice-wedge polygons infrastructure photo-interpretation thermokarst tundra ARCSS ArcSEES |
spellingShingle |
Arctic climate change cumulative impacts geoecological mapping ice-rich permafrost ice-wedge polygons infrastructure photo-interpretation thermokarst tundra ARCSS ArcSEES Donald A. Walker Martha K. Raynolds Marcel Buchhorn Jana L. Peirce Yuri L. Shur Kenneth J. Ambrosius Mikhail Kanesvskiy Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
topic_facet |
Arctic climate change cumulative impacts geoecological mapping ice-rich permafrost ice-wedge polygons infrastructure photo-interpretation thermokarst tundra ARCSS ArcSEES |
description |
Many areas of the Arctic are simultaneously affected by rapid climate change and rapid industrial development.These areas are likely to increase in number and size as sea ice melts and abundant Arctic natural resources become more accessible. Documenting the changes that have already occurred is essential to inform management approaches to minimize the impacts of future activities. Here, we determine the cumulative geoecological effects of 62 years (1949-2011) of infrastructure- and climate-related changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, the oldest and most extensive industrial complex in the Arctic, and an area with extensive ice-rich permafrost that is extraordinarily sensitive to climate change. We demonstrate that thermokarst has recently affected broad areas of the entire region, and that a sudden increase in the area affected began shortly after 1990 corresponding to a rapid rise in regional summer air temperatures and related permafrost temperatures. We also present a conceptual model that describes how infrastructure-related factors, including road dust and roadside flooding are contributing to more extensive thermokarst in areas adjacent to roads and gravel pads. We mapped the historical infrastructure changes for the Alaska North Slope oilfields for 10 dates from the initial oil discovery in 1968-2011. By 2010, over 34% of the intensively mapped area was affected by oil development. In addition, between 1990 and 2001, coincident with strong atmospheric warming during the 1990s, 19% of the remaining natural landscapes (excluding areas covered by infrastructure, lakes and river floodplains) exhibited expansion of thermokarst features resulting in more abundant small ponds, greater microrelief, more active lakeshore erosion and increased landscape and habitat heterogeneity. This transition to a new geoecological regime will have impacts to wildlife habitat, local residents and industry. |
format |
Dataset |
author |
Donald A. Walker Martha K. Raynolds Marcel Buchhorn Jana L. Peirce Yuri L. Shur Kenneth J. Ambrosius Mikhail Kanesvskiy |
author_facet |
Donald A. Walker Martha K. Raynolds Marcel Buchhorn Jana L. Peirce Yuri L. Shur Kenneth J. Ambrosius Mikhail Kanesvskiy |
author_sort |
Donald A. Walker |
title |
Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
title_short |
Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
title_full |
Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
title_fullStr |
Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Landscape and Permafrost Changes in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska (1949-2011) |
title_sort |
landscape and permafrost changes in the prudhoe bay oilfield, alaska (1949-2011) |
publisher |
Arctic Data Center |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.18739/A24X54H5D |
op_coverage |
Three 20-km^2 areas within the Alaska North Slope Prudhoe Bay Oilfield production unit (Maps A, B and C) have been mapped in detail for this cumulative impact study. ENVELOPE(-148.78664,-148.42488,70.32488,70.281006) BEGINDATE: 1949-01-01T00:00:00Z ENDDATE: 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-148.78664,-148.42488,70.32488,70.281006) |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Alaska North Slope Arctic Climate change Ice north slope permafrost Prudhoe Bay Sea ice Thermokarst Tundra wedge* Alaska |
genre_facet |
Alaska North Slope Arctic Climate change Ice north slope permafrost Prudhoe Bay Sea ice Thermokarst Tundra wedge* Alaska |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.18739/A24X54H5D |
_version_ |
1800866875089879040 |