Connecting People, Infrastructure and Permafrost Information in Alaska
Abstract
Infrastructure planning and design currently incorporates the concept of permafrost as ground that is frozen continuously for two or more years, using many different techniques and types of data. However, this basic definition does not include ice content or the roles water, surface topography and vegetation play in modifying the ground thermal regimes governing permafrost. For example, surface water in permafrost areas covered a total area of 1,066,643 ± 144,582km2 in the northern hemisphere where lands approximately size of the state of New York converted from land to water or vice versa between 1985 and 2015. Planning and building infrastructure on permafrost requires synthesizing data including this type of information on surface water to better understand the pre-disturbance conditions, impacts the infrastructure will have, and how to best mitigate potential issues. Data supporting this analysis is produced through a variety of different lenses, with features including spatial (building site vs. community vs. regional vs. statewide vs. global), temporal (long-term monitoring vs. project based), accessibility (data collected by a public agency that should be open and easily accessible vs. data collected by private parties and industry), type (point collection vs. distributed grids). The data collection process is already well-established for conducting site-level analysis using historical data products for planning and building some types of infrastructure. However, this often fails to consider future changes or data sparseness. This project examines theoretical vs actual data availability for permafrost and infrastructure information critical for planning and development in Alaska. We explore proof-of-concept methods of quantifying environmental change related to permafrost conditions around infrastructure. We also identify key areas which contain critical information gaps for assessing permafrost related impacts to infrastructure. This analysis will highlight the development of a framework that connects permafrost specific information to infrastructure risks within the context of project planning and decision making. It will enable the research community to better position their products to fit the needs of stakeholders and improve interfaces for dissemination.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC31B..02T
- Keywords:
-
- 0475 Permafrost;
- cryosphere;
- and high-latitude processes;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 0710 Periglacial processes;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 1615 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 4323 Human impact;
- NATURAL HAZARDS