Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure
The warming and thawing of ice-rich permafrost pose considerable threat to the integrity of polar and high-altitude infrastructure, in turn jeopardizing sustainable development. In this Review, we explore the extent and costs of observed and predicted infrastructure damage associated with permafrost...
Published in: | Nature Reviews Earth & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Review |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Nature Research
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/344541 |
id |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/344541 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/344541 2024-01-07T09:43:50+01:00 Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure Hjort, Jan Streletskiy, Dmitry Dore, Guy Wu, Qingbai Bjella, Kevin Luoto, Miska Division of Urban Geography and Regional Studies Department of Geosciences and Geography Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab 2022-06-10T22:07:57Z 15 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/344541 eng eng Nature Research 10.1038/s43017-021-00247-8 J.H. acknowledges funding from the Academy of Finland (Grant 315519), D.S. from the National Science Foundation (grants 1545913, 2019691, 2022504 and 1558389) and Q.W. from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 41690144). O. Karjalainen helped with the figures and O. Kononen with the management of references. Hjort , J , Streletskiy , D , Dore , G , Wu , Q , Bjella , K & Luoto , M 2022 , ' Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure ' , Nature Reviews Earth & Environment , vol. 3 , no. 1 , pp. 24-38 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00247-8 ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/107667855 681d38f5-d977-4247-9f7d-2de2cb3e9d37 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/344541 000742668100010 other openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 1172 Environmental sciences Review Article acceptedVersion 2022 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:04:29Z The warming and thawing of ice-rich permafrost pose considerable threat to the integrity of polar and high-altitude infrastructure, in turn jeopardizing sustainable development. In this Review, we explore the extent and costs of observed and predicted infrastructure damage associated with permafrost degradation, and the methods available to mitigate such adverse consequences. Permafrost change imposes various threats to infrastructure, namely through warming, active layer thickening and thaw-related hazards such as thermokarst and mass wasting.These impacts, often linked to anthropogenic warming, are exacerbated through increased human activity. Observed infrastructure damage is substantial, with up to 80% of buildings in some Russian cities and -30% of some road surfaces in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reporting damage. Under anthropogenic warming, infrastructure damage is projected to continue, with 30-50% of critical circumpolar infrastructure thought to be at high risk by 2050. Accordingly, permafrost degradation-related infrastructure costs could rise to tens of billions of US dollars by the second half of the century. Several mitigation techniques exist to alleviate these impacts, including convection embankments, thermosyphons and piling foundations, with proven success at preserving and cooling permafrost and stabilizing infrastructure. To be effective, however, better understanding is needed on the regions at high risk. Peer reviewed Review Ice permafrost Thermokarst HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 3 1 24 38 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
1172 Environmental sciences |
spellingShingle |
1172 Environmental sciences Hjort, Jan Streletskiy, Dmitry Dore, Guy Wu, Qingbai Bjella, Kevin Luoto, Miska Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
topic_facet |
1172 Environmental sciences |
description |
The warming and thawing of ice-rich permafrost pose considerable threat to the integrity of polar and high-altitude infrastructure, in turn jeopardizing sustainable development. In this Review, we explore the extent and costs of observed and predicted infrastructure damage associated with permafrost degradation, and the methods available to mitigate such adverse consequences. Permafrost change imposes various threats to infrastructure, namely through warming, active layer thickening and thaw-related hazards such as thermokarst and mass wasting.These impacts, often linked to anthropogenic warming, are exacerbated through increased human activity. Observed infrastructure damage is substantial, with up to 80% of buildings in some Russian cities and -30% of some road surfaces in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reporting damage. Under anthropogenic warming, infrastructure damage is projected to continue, with 30-50% of critical circumpolar infrastructure thought to be at high risk by 2050. Accordingly, permafrost degradation-related infrastructure costs could rise to tens of billions of US dollars by the second half of the century. Several mitigation techniques exist to alleviate these impacts, including convection embankments, thermosyphons and piling foundations, with proven success at preserving and cooling permafrost and stabilizing infrastructure. To be effective, however, better understanding is needed on the regions at high risk. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Division of Urban Geography and Regional Studies Department of Geosciences and Geography Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab |
format |
Review |
author |
Hjort, Jan Streletskiy, Dmitry Dore, Guy Wu, Qingbai Bjella, Kevin Luoto, Miska |
author_facet |
Hjort, Jan Streletskiy, Dmitry Dore, Guy Wu, Qingbai Bjella, Kevin Luoto, Miska |
author_sort |
Hjort, Jan |
title |
Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
title_short |
Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
title_full |
Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
title_sort |
impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/344541 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
op_relation |
10.1038/s43017-021-00247-8 J.H. acknowledges funding from the Academy of Finland (Grant 315519), D.S. from the National Science Foundation (grants 1545913, 2019691, 2022504 and 1558389) and Q.W. from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 41690144). O. Karjalainen helped with the figures and O. Kononen with the management of references. Hjort , J , Streletskiy , D , Dore , G , Wu , Q , Bjella , K & Luoto , M 2022 , ' Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure ' , Nature Reviews Earth & Environment , vol. 3 , no. 1 , pp. 24-38 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00247-8 ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/107667855 681d38f5-d977-4247-9f7d-2de2cb3e9d37 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/344541 000742668100010 |
op_rights |
other openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
24 |
op_container_end_page |
38 |
_version_ |
1787425112368087040 |