There was a 60-fold increase in landslides caused by thawing permafrost on Banks Island between 1984 and 2015, according to a research article published on April 2.
The amount of active thaw slumpingSA国际影视传媒攖he technical term for these landslidesSA国际影视传媒攔ight now is only about 0.1 percent of the total island.
While the island can likely accommodate greater increases in activity, the 60-fold increase was caused mostly by four warm summers, which are weather events that are likely to increase as the climate warms.
SA国际影视传媒淧revious work had shown there had been increases but it wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 at all clear when they occurred or really how much change had occurred,SA国际影视传媒� says Antoni Lewkowicz, who co-authored the research paper, SA国际影视传媒�,SA国际影视传媒� with Robert Way.
SA国际影视传媒淪o that would be where we felt that we had made a contributionSA国际影视传媒攃overing the whole island, covering it at high resolution, and high temporal resolution, which is [imagery from] basically every year.SA国际影视传媒�
Most of the thaw slumps have taken place along the eastern and southern shores of Banks Island, with some taking place in Aulavik National Park and less taking place in the Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
While a bit of activity has taken place 10 to 15 kilometres away from Sachs Harbour, there isnSA国际影视传媒檛 much going on near the community.
SA国际影视传媒淟uckily, the community itself is not being impacted directly by these slumps at this point,SA国际影视传媒� says Lewkowicz.
SA国际影视传媒淲e would need to know a lot more about the ground ice around Sachs Harbour, but I would say at this point, with this particular process, it does not look like the infrastructure there is at risk,SA国际影视传媒� he said. He added that itSA国际影视传媒檚 difficult to predict what might happen in the future.
SA国际影视传媒淭he Arctic landscape is changing so much and so quickly that we donSA国际影视传媒檛 know what might arise in the long run.SA国际影视传媒�
News/North reached out to elders and hunters in Sachs Harbour but was unable to schedule interviews with them before press time.
The majority of this activity was sparked by four unseasonably warm summers, in 1998, 2010, 2011 and 2012, according to the research.
SA国际影视传媒淧ermafrost is hidden," says Lewkowicz. "ItSA国际影视传媒檚 below the groundSA国际影视传媒檚 surface. So, itSA国际影视传媒檚 been quite difficult to make direct links between climate change and permafrost change, apart from tracking temperatures.SA国际影视传媒�
Compared to lessening year-round sea ice, which is plain to see via satellite and aerial imagery, there hasnSA国际影视传媒檛 been the same sort of dramatic effect on ice-rich landscapesSA国际影视传媒攚ith a clear link to warmer temperaturesSA国际影视传媒攗ntil researchers started looking into these landslides, happening across the Western Arctic.
SA国际影视传媒�Fortunately, not every part of the Arctic is like the ice-rich parts of Banks Island or I think we would know much more that this had been happening.SA国际影视传媒�
Lewkowicz credited much of the previous work on this subject to YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 Steve Kokelj, a permafrost scientist with the GNWT.
Some of the recent research done by Kokelj and his team have linked the highest occurrences of this landslide activity to the prehistorical area covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
As it retreated, this ice-rich groundSA国际影视传媒攑art of the bottom of the continental glacierSA国际影视传媒攚as left behind and had been preserved, to a degree, as permafrost for thousands of years by a relatively stable climate.
