Background Articles

Warming temperatures are causing the ground to sink across parts of the Arctic, and a new study is urging better monitoring to track these dramatic changes."Our findings suggest that permafrost landscapes are undergoing geomorphic change that is impacting hydrology, ecosystems, and human infrastru

Russian researchers have identified thousands of craters on the Kara Sea bed due to explosive methane gas releases, posing potential risks to underwater gas pipelines.

Warming soils beneath Utqiagvik are triggering erosion that threatens homes, infrastructure and cultural resources. The North Slope has seen some of the fastest changes in coastal erosion in the nation.

Researchers documented the formation of new, irregularly shaped, steep-sided depressions. The largest was an oval-shaped depression 28 meters (92 feet) deep, 225 meters (738 feet) long, and 95 meters (312 feet) wide. The research team attributes these changes to intermittent seafloor collapse due to the gradual warming of the permafrost sediment frozen beneath the Arctic Shelf since the end of the last ice age.

“We’re dropping in elevation because we live on ice cubes,” says a scientist trying to map permafrost.

Upgrades are needed on the tarmac

Are the newly found sinkholes really new or are they just newly discovered? And how much of a concern at this point?