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In response to the increasing global demand for energy, on exploration and development are expanding into frontier areas of the Arctic, where slow-growing tundra vegetation and the underlying permafrost Soils are Very sensitive to disturbance. The creation of vehicle trails on the tundra from seismic exploration for on has accelerated in the past decade, and the cumulative impact represents a geographic footprint that covers a greater extent of Alaska's North Slope tundra than all other direct human impacts combined. Seismic exploration for on and gas was conducted on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA, in the winters of 1984 and 1985. This study documents recovery Of vegetation...
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Thermokarst is developing in the boreal forests of Alaska where ice-rich discontinuous permafrost is thawing. Thawing destroys the physical foundation (ice-rich soil) on which boreal forest ecosystems rest causing dramatic changes in the ecosystem. Impacts on the forest depend primarily on the type and amount of ice present in the permafrost and on drainage conditions. At sites generally underlain by ice-rich permafrost, forest ecosystems can be completely destroyed. In the Mentasta Pass area, wet sedge meadows, bogs, thermokarst ponds, and lakes are replacing forests. An upland thermokarst site on the University of Alaska Campus consists of polygonal patterns of troughs and pits caused by thawing ice-wedge polygons....
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