Arctic food storage system at risk.

We performed a survey of community water lines to see how permafrost thaw and sinking foundations may be impacting homes, water and waste water systems. During the June visit we saw where foundation sinking was putting stress on pipe runs and junctions. Now in the winter we see evidence of freeze up in some of the homes where the junction boxes have been compromised, gaps in the insulation seal, and resulting freeze up and overflow of water.

Erosion on the banks of the Koyukuk River is increasing in the community of Evansville and Bettles.

Melting permafrost causing tundra to slip below sea level in northern Alaska.

Permafrost thawing causing bridge damage.

Permafrost thaw is causing trail in Golovin to erode.

Yukon Flats community dealing with river erosion and landscape changes that are threatening the loss of traditional harvesting areas.

On a rising tide, a line of bubbles from the mud under the water of Ugashik Bay can be observed rising forcefully to the surface.

6-3-13 Erosion disrupts swallows - Evansville, Alaska, USA

Thawing permafrost and river bank collapsed on the Cheenik Creek.

9-24-13 Bluff erosion - St. Michael, Alaska

The runway, built in 1958, is over-top of permafrost and frozen soils.

Coastal erosion potential threat to community sewage lagoon.

Sinkhole appears along road

Series of storms contribute to flooding, erosion, infrastructure damage.

Fuel headers leading to bulk fuel farm out of service due to coastal erosion.

Loss of shoreline and subsistence camps.

Permafrost thaw and storms are drivers.

Thawing all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trail.

7-15-14 River erosion - Evansville, Alaska, USA

River erosion damaging pedestrian walkway

When a storm exposes human remains in Barrow, there isn’t an established protocol. They are usually given to the federally recognized Native Village of Barrow for repatriation.

Coastal erosion near Cape Blossom

River Erosion

Bluff/cliff side erosion along the Ningikfak River.

Possibly an effect of thawing permafrost.

A critical artery is threatened by thawing permafrost.

State and North Slope Borough officials say Point Lay’s drinking water lake was wiped out by the nearby Kokolik River, which flooded and eroded the lake banks.

Downriver from Arctic Village

River erosion along the Yukon River near..?

Ponds in and around the Nome area are drying up.

Decades have passed and ponds are drying up.

This tadpole-shaped gash in the Earth's surface - around one kilometre long, and 800 metres wide - is enlarging by up to 30 metres a year.

The bulges are caused when permafrost beneath the soil melts due to "abnormally warm" weather - allowing methane gas to escape and head to the surface

Thawing permafrost is warping water and sewer lines. Along the coast and rivers, erosion is threatening the lakes that communities use for drinking water or the lagoons where they dump sewage.

A sinkhole has opened up on Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks. The 3-foot diameter void discovered Monday near a housing unit, is suspected to be the result of thawing permafrost.

The seed bank designed to preserve the world’s crops and plants in the event of global disaster isn’t prepared to withstand the greatest global disaster facing our planet: global warming. Melting...

I went to gather some yesterday and there was no water to speak of; in a pond that's has been filled with water my whole life.

Looking at a map of Arctic Canada, it seems there are literally thousands of lakes and rivers, yet many Arctic communities are facing water shortages or threats of shortages to come. Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut Territory, will be facing that problem in the very near future.

Andrew Medeiros (PhD)

Locals say they saw flames and smoke as a major bubble of methane blasted below the surface and created another sinkhole in the Russian Arctic peninsula.

Permafrost underneath the structure is believed to have melted since last fall and key parts of the building might not be able to withstand strong winds or an earthquake, according to a professional engineer hired by Dawson City.

Severe permafrost thaw and erosion along Koyukuk River banks.

Community concerned about health and safety from old site.

Climate change is thawing the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s permafrost, and it’s doing more than cracking foundations, sinking roads and accelerating erosion.

Melting permafrost, which some attribute to climate changes, is creating huge craters in Siberia. The craters are appearing as layers of ice melt, and larg

Tununak Airport near Bethel is facing a catastrophic problem, as airlines are refusing to land there due to the village's shifting permafrost.

"Yesterday we came over to do an assessment of the high-water flood storm," said Northwest Arctic Borough Deputy Director of Public Services Dickie Moto, who grew up in Deering. "They lost a lot of ground on the front and on the back side of town because of the high water and rough seas.

An advocacy group has put a price tag on the heaving roads and leaning buildings ubiquitous to the Northwest Territories.

In villages like Kongiganak, communities have stopped burying their dead because, as the permafrost melts, the oldest part of their cemetery is sinking.

Melting permafrost and major storms are eating away at the coastal Alaskan village of Newtok. Residents are desperate to move, but the U.S. has no climate change policy that could help them.

This is not the first time the village of Chefornak has faced the threat of erosion and flooding, but relocating won’t be as easy as it was last time.

Without ice to provide protection from storm waves, Port Heiden has lost the old town road.

The Air Force is trying to better understand the erosion bearing down on its valuable radar sites.

Permafrost thaw is affecting houses, roads, and ice cellars.

Transportation engineers moved the road to avoid a giant mass of frozen debris sliding downhill.

Thawing and eroding is destroying river bank, impacting access, threatening infrastructure, and causing safety concerns.

“It’s an area that I and some other colleagues have started thinking about: can you get methane forming in terrestrial environments? But it’s a very new area of science,” carbon scientist Katey Walter Anthony said.

Climate change is causing trouble on Herschel Island.

A permafrost coastline is receding dramatically along Alaska's North Slope region. It could be an indicator of far more massive land losses across the Arctic.

The incident appears similar to an oil and gas release in 2017 blamed on thawing permafrost and hot production fluids.

“Nobody knows how old it is. We do know that it’s disappearing.”

Kettle ponds in Denali National Park contain less water this spring than in previous years, due to low snowfall and permafrost thaw. Shrubs are replacing grasses as the lakes dry.

Napakiak doesn’t have a boat landing anymore. Storms over the past week ate huge chunks from the Kuskokwim riverbank close to the city school and fuel

Akiak City Administrator David Gilila says the village is in danger of becoming an island in the Kuskokwim River.

The fires are now raging some 10 to 15 kilometers from the megaslump crater - a large hole in the frozen Arctic soil which highlights the dramatic speed of thawing permafrost.

A new study has found permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted.

Some 784,931 hectares of wildfires are raging on permafrost zones including the Arctic in Yakutia - officially Sakha Republic - and the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, causing possibly irreparable damage to the tundra. Other infernos are sweeping through boreal forests which are known as the lungs of the Northern Hemisphere.

Usually one of the most full flowing in Russia, the river tends to drop the level twice a year - but not by a catastrophic 2-2.5 meters as this year.

Russian scientists in the Arctic Ocean said they have discovered the most powerful methane gas fountain ever recorded, highlighting the danger of this greenhouse gas accelerating climate change or causing an oil or gas spill as it erupts from thawing permafrost.

Nils Thomas discovered "sinkhole" in the middle of Finnmarksvidda. Scientists have long warned against this, and now it happened.

Concern about permafrost thaw and possible impacts to underground water and wastewater lines.

Low water on the Noatak River may be the reason behind changes in the water quality in community wells. The water quality began to change in the plant as measured (eventually) by the need for twice as much chlorine and Naclo polymer in order to get an acceptable residual of chlorine. The change indicates that the well recharge had been depleted and the that wells began operating on stored water in the aquifer. This water would have been older, likely anaerobic and higher in organics and in inorganics such as iron and manganese.

This year was one of the warmest and wettest in recorded history and permafrost thaw is causing the ground at the community cemetary to thaw and erode. The community is seeking guidance on best practices for relocation of remains.

This year was one of the warmest and wettest in recorded history, and permafrost thaw is causing the ground at the mass gravesite to sink.

Observers seek guidance on causes for road cracks and how to address damage.

Gradual sea ice reduction and reconfiguration of the coast, have increased the rate of erosion near Port Heiden over the course of several decades. Draining of Goldfish Lake brings memories, loss of community landmark, and many emotions.

Noatak site experiencing thawing and subsidence.

Erosion of Russian era graves is a concern because of history with epidemic, and tribal office has to collect and rebury remains.

After a decade of heavy erosion, a lake in the Bristol Bay village of Port Heiden finally breached, sending water gushing into the bay.

Ground settling is causing a wide range of impacts in Noatak, including to the water treatment plant. But are there benchmarks to monitor the changes in the water plant?

Severe erosion at the Nome River mouth has cost Rita Hukill and her family most of their land at their campsite at Fort Davis.

A few years ago, people had to cover up parts of the burial site that were becoming exposed.

Staircases are separating from building and utility poles leaning.

Permafrosten på Svalbard kunne gitt dem evig liv. Men nå er historien til hundrevis av hvalfangere i ferd med å tine bort.

The exact reason of the leak is yet to be established, but a statement from Norilsk Nickel company, which operates the site suggests it could have been caused - worryingly - by collapsing permafrost.

Thawing is impacting both above ground and underground fuel storage. They have started on a plan to empty the fuel tank and relocate it or fix the foundation.

"If we can protect the shoreline for another 30 years, it will give us time to move inland because we all can't up and leave tomorrow," Mayor Elias said.

The rate of coastal erosion seems to be speeding up near Cape Blossom.

In Finnmark and parts of Troms, good and favorite berry bogs have cracked and disappeared. The reason is warmer and more humid climate. "Almost impossible to reverse," says a bog researcher.

Permafrost thaw is causing tundra to sink and pool water.

Today, the fault measures around a kilometer in length, 800 meters in width and 100 meters in depth, making it the largest permafrost thermokarst sinkhole in the world. Its shape is reminiscent of a gigantic mollusc with a tail.

Permafrost is becoming exposed in Western Alaska, in areas where the landscape transitions to tundra.

The glacier over Mine 7 in Adventdalen on Svalbard is thawing in the summer heat. This has resulted in a severe flood with thousands of liters of water.

The multinational company that operates the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska says that thawing permafrost linked to global warming has forced it to spend nearly $20 million to manage its water storage and discharge.

The mounds are believed to be caused by the build up of methane gas in pockets of thawing permafrost under the surface  Dissecting them like surgical abscesses to release the gas is seen as one solution to avoid future eruptions.

In the vast plains that blanket much of northern Russia a once-unthinkable business is taking hold – soybean farming. It’s the result of years of increasing global temperatures, which are thawing the permafrost and turning the land into fertile soil.

Reindeer herders in Russia's Arctic have discovered what scientists say is the first-ever cave bear carcass with soft tissues intact in the region's rapidly thawing permafrost.

A recent beaver catch in Baker Lake, along with this summer’s earlier beaver sighting near Kugluktuk, more than 1,000 kilometres northwest of Baker Lake, have some wondering whether beavers are expanding their range into Nunavut.

A 200 metres wide thermocirque is discovered only weeks after scientists find funnel in the Yamal peninsula, caused by build up of methane.

Late last week a strong Bering Sea storm hit the region, bringing winds up to 50mph, blowing snow, and high-water. Some communities saw significant erosion while others were mostly unscathed.

Underground, a mighty giant is disintegrating: the permafrost is about to drop its roof. Constantly creeping upwards, the permafrost zone is now 100 meters further up the mountainside than 20 years ago.

The frozen carcass is 80 per cent intact and may be around 34,000 years old. Two extinct cave lion cubs were also found here in the Abyisky district of Yakutia last year close to a tributary of the remote Tirekhtyakh River.

Permafrost in Canada's northwest is thawing much faster than researchers predicted 20 years ago, according to the president of the International Permafrost Association.

In Chefornak, a family was forced to evacuate their home because a sinkhole caused by thawing permafrost formed underneath it. That family had to move into a building intended to be a quarantine facility.

Abnormally warm winters in 2018 and 2019, in which the ground did not freeze solid enough to support heavy equipment, delayed completion of this project.

Arctic permafrost is degrading much faster than expected, warn scientists from the extreme north of Yakutia. It took two years for a building in the port town of Chersky on the Kolyma River, to snap in the middle after the once solid permafrost could no longer hold its supporting foundation.

This research provides a scientific reference for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering facilities in the permafrost region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Multiple buildings and homes, including the Point Lay clinic, were without water. The water main break was a result of the water main sinking down further into the permafrost.

Climate warming has accelerated the permafrost degradation, which influences the processes of water supply, runoff and discharge in the Source Area of the Yellow River (SAYR) in the northeast of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The heat wave sweeping through the N.W.T. and Yukon will have a major impact on permafrost thaw in both territories, experts warn. 

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

River erosion in Noatak is posing a threat to wells and transmission lines along the bank as the river ebbs closer.

Kwigillingok, a community on the Bering Sea coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, is used to some flooding during high tides. But in recent years, that flooding has grown more severe, reaching a new threshold last week.

Photos show some of the erosion caused by surge of high water in late June on the Noatak River. As of June 29th, 24 feet of bank have been lost adjacent to the Noatak Airport, and 28 feet adjacent to the landfill.

Wildfires on permafrost are ravaging Yakutia - or the Sakha Republic - the largest and coldest entity of the Russian Federation. The scale is mesmerizing. There are some 300 separate fires, now covering 12,140 square kilometers - but only around half of these are being tackled, because they pose a threat to people. The rest are burning unchecked.

The slope of permafrost where an 810-foot section of pipeline is secured has started to shift as it thaws, causing several of the braces holding up the pipeline to tilt and bend, according to an analysis by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Of the 140 unstable slopes along the 92-mile park road, Pretty Rocks has the most potential to disrupt traffic.

Unusual high water all summer in Noatak, causing massive erosion towards the airport and old buried landfill, exposing old trash into the river.

After significant rain and high water from the Kobuk River the Native Village of Kobuk is now flooded.

Community Water System at Risk: Extreme precipitation throughout the summer and sustained high water has resulted in erosion of the location for the water transmission line and Noatak's two water wells.

The church is no outlier — several buildings in the community are affected by freeze-thaw cycle of permafrost. Even an iconic church is not immune from changing permafrost.

Thawing permafrost and erosion is resulting in the loss of infrastructure in Newtok. These images show impacts on utility poles, and the shoreline.

"The sea level rise and wind is making this happen because it is really vulnerable. We are always really amazed every time we go out there with the change, and pieces of earth the size of a house falling over."

Video | In northern Siberia, the warming climate is leaving people feeling like the ground is "going out from under their feet."

Called yedomas in Russia, the mounds of land are much more populous there.

In northern Alaska, an amphitheater of frozen ground thaws where a northern river cuts into it, exposing walls of ice. The feature, known by scientists as “yedoma,” is the largest of its kind yet found in Alaska. A great wall of ice holds a lot of treasures from the past, which science is eager to explore.

A fisherman was coming home from fishing last night and noticed (what he thought was) a coffin sticking out of the old gravesite above one of the markers I used to measure erosion with last summer. It turned out to not be a coffin, but rather an old air duct or metal meat trailer.

What can be done to avoid man-made accidents and emergencies? According to Vostokgosplan experts, the use of special thermal stabilizers will help ensure the stability of the Arctic infrastructure.

Noatak has lost 19' of river bank since May 19th. Now the road to the community gravel source is failing.

The collapse was documented with drone imagery as was a permafrost rebound signature in the river water.

Community gravel source and old dump site threated by erosion.

On June 21, 2022, when miners working on Eureka Creek in the Klondike gold fields within Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory made an astonishing discovery.There, covered over by permafrost, they found the near-perfect mummified remains of a baby woolly mammoth.

"The event occurred on June 29th, on our native allotment near Kotzebue (Illivak). We left home in the morning and when we came back around 8:00 PM in the evening the whole lake had drained! It looked like it was blown up with dynamite."

In Utqiaġvik, where the coast is eroding at some of the fastest rates in the nation, storms, flooding and thawing permafrost damage houses, roads and cultural sites. Ice forms later each year and storms are becoming longer and more severe.

The aftermath of Typhoon Merbok left fuel tanks floating and home flooded, but locals also saw an opportunity.

The heavy rains and high water from storm Murdok today and Monday are contributing to the erosion of the old landfill and river bank.

The erosion of the Old Russian Cemetery from the impacts of the storm Merbokis also an unfinished process. The earth is actively moving, falling onto the beach bit by bit and sometimes in large chunks every day, to reach a state of stabilization after the storm.

Permafrost is ground that stays frozen year round; the permafrost in interior Alaska also has massive wedges of actual ice locked within the frozen ground. When that ice melts, the ground surface collapses and forms a sinkhole that can fill with water. Thus, a thermokarst lake is born. At first glance, Big Trail looks like any lake. But look closer and there's something disturbing the surface: bubbles.

A site visit to Newtok on September 30, shows severe erosion from impacts of storm (typhoon Merbok). The images show both severe permafrost melt and river erosion.

Two heavy rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in the upper valley last week, damaging infrastructure and leaving two residents temporarily trapped in their vehicle.

Melting permafrost and severe erosion have plagued the community for decades. The most recent storm brought waves so fierce, the water claimed roughly half of the 80 or so remaining feet of land that stands between the back end of the school and the edge of the Ningliq river.

Permafrost thaw in Noatak is causing the condition of the grave site to degrade. A trench has formed and crosses are tipping over.

Increase in sediments such as iron could change quality of water sources for local communities such as Kobuk and Kivalina. The impact on animals and plants are unknown and researchers are aware of potential changes in the food web in the future.

The community of Aklavik, N.W.T., persevered when devastating floods led the government to attempt to relocate it. Now it faces another existential crisis as climate change thaws the permafrost, forever changing the community’s landscape and wildlife.

A previously underestimated risk lurks in the frozen soil of the Arctic. When the ground thaws and becomes unstable in response to climate change, it can lead to the collapse of industrial infrastructure, and in turn to the increased release of pollutants. Moreover, contaminations already present will be able to more easily spread throughout ecosystems. According to new findings, there are at least 13,000 to 20,000 contaminated sites in the Arctic that could pose a serious risk in the future.

This post is an update on the river erosion situation in Noatak, where a new channel is being cut by the Noatak River.

Rockfall buries access road but stops just in front of hamlet, which had been evacuated in anticipation.

The average temperature in July was 48.4 degrees — 6.7 degrees above normal, with 11 hot days in a row. Such extreme warmth can accelerate the greening and permafrost thaw on the North Slope.

Kivalina residents report cracks on the sides of the recently built evacuation road which connects the village to the storm refuge site and the school. The team with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities plans to visit the village and assess the damages at the end of August.

Heavy rains have elevated river levels throughout August and September. High water continues to erode the river bank in the community. The photos show a tree that was 22 feet from the edge is know 3 feet. Total erosion has reached 91 ft. by old landfill and new mark shows 112 ft. marker.

River erosion is impacting the road and requiring the replacement of health infrastructure.

The Merbok storm of 2022 impacted the Old Russian Cemetery in Saint Michael. This cemetery was created in the 1830s when the northernmost outpost of the Russian American Company was established in that village. People were interred in that cemetery for about 100 years. The cemetery is on a 30 foot high bluff overlooking the bay.

The slump is so close to the Alaska Highway, the Yukon government is moving the road, creating a new section that will help protect the only year-round road linking parts of the Yukon, and the U.S. state of Alaska, to the rest of the continent. 

Shifting seasons and hotter temperatures could allow Alaska farmers to grow more abundant and diverse produce. But climate change can also bring drought, pests and permafrost thaw.  Human-caused climate change is bringing longer and warmer growing seasons, but also pests and unstable weather.

High winds that pushed water high up on south facing shores of the Seward Peninsula cause shoreline erosion on the Chukchi Sea coast of Shishmaref, last week.  

A storm caused shoreline erosion in Shishmaref, Alaska, but no evacuations were needed as the new seawall held and damage was minimal.

A city building in Little Diomede, Alaska, slid off its foundation, threatening the structural integrity of adjacent buildings and critical services, with the community seeking immediate assistance.

Rapid erosion and permafrost degradation mean school district officials are in a race to shore up the building for the remainder of the school year.

As the impacts of climate change threaten vital historical sites across the Northwest Territories, the territory's climate change archaeologist is working with communities to mitigate the damage.

LEO Member Jeffrey Luther has been documenting erosion along the Noatak River for many years. His drone footage this spring captures new bank erosion features and icicle formations.

A vast crater in Siberia, known as the Batagay crater or megaslump, has garnered attention for its remarkable growth and impact on the surrounding landscape. Locals have mixed feelings about the crater, with some fearing it due to mysterious sounds it emits, while others explore the site, which locals call “the cave-in.”

Is this a sign of more to come? Land changes raises questions about possible causes.

Erosion of the shoreline on Well Island is threatening the water line that connects the village of Noatak to their water supply. The Tribal Health System is coordinating with the federal agencies and state and borough to support water supply needs and repairs.

High water throughout the summer continues to erode the river bank.

The article discusses the potential economic impact of permafrost melting in Russia's Arctic zone, estimating damages could exceed 10 trillion rubles by 2050 due to infrastructure collapse and other issues.

A record storm caused extensive flooding in Kotzebue, Alaska, submerging the town and prompting community concern and relief efforts.

A severe fall storm in 2024 exposed coastal permafrost in Kotzebue, revealing ice layers previously covered by clay or plants and raising concerns about increased melting and environmental contamination.

Newtok faces imminent shutdown due to severe infrastructure risks and erosion, with remaining residents relocating to temporary homes in Mertarvik.

Newtok, a community in Alaska, has shut down power and water services as part of a relocation effort due to permafrost deterioration and coastal erosion dangers.

A juvenile mammoth was found in Siberian permafrost, remarkably preserved for over 50,000 years, near Batagaika crater.

A small soil cavity in the UAF North Campus boreal forest remains open all winter, maintaining a steady temperature and emitting high CO2 levels, which is unusual for its self-sustaining nature and potential implications for permafrost research.