Flooding that closed Dalton Highway also caused widespread ground sinking

By on    Featured, The Arctic and Alaska Science  

Flooding that closed Dalton Highway also caused widespread ground sinking

The massive 2015 flooding of the Sagavanirktok River in northern Alaska had immediate impacts, including closure of the Dalton Highway for several days, but it also contributed to longer-term ground subsidence in the permafrost-rich region. That’s the finding by assistant professor Simon Zwieback at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute in a study published […]

AGU research spotlight: UAF scientist finds Alaska’s Arctic coastal towns face extensive inundation

By on    Featured, The Arctic and Alaska Science  

AGU research spotlight: UAF scientist finds Alaska’s Arctic coastal towns face extensive inundation

Coastal erosion and land subsidence driven by permafrost thawing may lead to extensive seawater inundation in several northern Alaska communities by 2100, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks geomorphologist. Louise Farquharson, a research assistant professor at the UAF Geophysical Institute, made the long-term projections for the communities of Point Lay, Wainwright, Kaktovik and […]