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The Qinghai-Tibet Highway -

High in the Chinese mountains runs a road, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. It is more than a thousand kilometers (over 600 miles) long and is a major trade route.

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The Qinghai-Tibet Highway -

The Qinghai-Tibet Highway has at times been responsible for 85% of goods going in and out of Tibet, but now its future is uncertain.

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The Qinghai-Tibet Highway -

This is because the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, like many other roads in the world, is sitting on top of a layer of permafrost, which is best defined as ground that remains permanently frozen for a period of two years or longer.

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Permafrost melt -

The permafrost that forms the foundations of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is thawing, which is causing the terrain to sag. This causes distortions in the road itself.

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Ruined roads -

In certain places along the road, there are now sizable cracks in the asphalt, and in other places the surface of the road has become warped.

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Rate of change -

The permafrost melt in this region is nothing new, but researchers have noticed that the rate of the melt is increasing, along with the rate of damage to roads and highways.

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Tough years ahead -

According to one paper from April 2020, there will be “significant engineering challenges” associated with building and maintaining roads in nearby permafrost areas over the next 100 years.

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Global issue -

The problem of permafrost melt is not unique to this region of China. In fact, thawing permafrost is affecting structures all over the world, from Canada to Russia.

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Contributing factors -

One of the major factors behind the increased rate of permafrost melt is, of course, global warming. But it is by no means the only factor.

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Contributing factors -

The dark asphalt used for many roads, for example, exacerbates the process because it absorbs a lot of heat from the sun and distributes it to the ground below.

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Canada -

According to Guy Doré, an engineer at Laval University in Canada, roughly half of the 3,000-4,000 km (roughly 1,850-2,500 miles) of road in permafrost areas of Canada could become unstable.

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Canada -

In Doré’s words, mitigating the effects of permafrost melt would cost “millions of dollars in additional maintenance costs in areas where you don’t have much resource to do it."

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Yakutsk, Russia -

Melting permafrost impacts buildings too. According to the New York Times, it has caused damage to roughly 1,000 buildings in the Russian city of Yakutsk (population around 280,000).

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Svalbard, Norway -

In the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, hundreds of homes have had to be torn down over the last few years because they had wooden foundations that became unstable on the thawing ground.

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Svalbard, Norway -

Unfortunately the problem in Svalbard seems only set to worsen in years to come: summer 2020 was the warmest summer ever recorded by the archipelago.

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Possible mitigation -

When it comes to buildings, it is possible to mitigate the impact of permafrost melt by using more solid foundations or improving ventilation underneath the structure.

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Mitigation in Russia -

Some of the damage to Russian buildings, for instance, could have been avoided if the buildings had been better maintained over the years.

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Canadian church -

However, mitigating the impact of permafrost melt is no easy feat, as demonstrated by buildings such as the Our Lady of Victory Church in Inuvik, Canada.

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Cylinder shape -

This interesting-looking building was built in the shape of a cylinder so that it was able to redistribute the stress caused by the ground freezing and thawing over time.

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Concrete saucer -

It also sits on top of a giant concrete saucer, which was intended to protect the church from warped ground. For years these architectural features helped the church remain stable, but now the increased permafrost melt has caused it to tilt.

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First-hand report -

According to a former pastor of the church, Jon Hansen, the concrete saucer has begun to crack, causing the floor to slope and in some places rise until it blocks doorways.

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Intervention -

All this movement has prompted staff at the church to intervene by introducing measures such as improved ventilation between the building’s floor and its foundation.

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Intervention -

It is hoped that the improved ventilation will help keep the ground as cool as possible. Local researchers are monitoring such actions to see whether they will work.

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Other initiatives -

At the same time elsewhere in the Arctic, oil companies are turning to technology to try and keep the ground cool and their pipelines safe.

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Thermosiphons -

Companies such as ConocoPhillips are installing tubes called thermosiphons, which divert heat from the ground and therefore keep it cool.

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Thermosiphons -

According to the BBC, the 1,300 km (800 mile) Trans-Alaska Pipeline System uses more than 124,000 of these devices.

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Other ideas -

Researchers such as Doré and his colleagues are also looking into other ways to maintain permafrost, such as using light-colored materials for roads or shielding them with wooden sheds.

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Going forward -

Slowing down permafrost melt is a major concern for scientists, who realize that if the world continues to warm, permafrost will continue to melt and damage infrastructure.

Sources: (BBC) (The New York Times)

See also: The dairy industry and climate change

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