Surviving the thaw of frozen mountains – Workshop on mitigating the hazard of permafrost-degradation induced landslides in Alaska and the Arctic

The aim of this project is the organisation of a Workshop named “Surviving the thaw of frozen mountains – Workshop on mitigating the hazard of permafrost-thaw induced landslides in Alaska and the Arctic“. Slope instabilities induced by permafrost thaw are causing disruption in many Arctic regions, affecting the lives of local communities. Tens of slope instabilities are present in Southcentral Alaska, and many of these show evidence that they originated from permafrost degradation. Wev have observed that this problem is also extensively affecting Iceland and Greenland, where increasing population and tourism are exposed to landslide risk in thawing-permafrost terrains. Here, landslides induced by permafrost degradation have produced casualties and damage, and future similar events could lead to catastrophic consequences. We want to bring together scientists from different disciplines from Alaska, Europe and Iceland and rights – and stakeholder communities, to discuss how to improve the co-production of knowledge between researchers and local communities on landslides in thawing permafrost environments. The workshop wants to co-create recommendations for protecting local population from permafrost thaw-induced landslide risk by focussing on the research, monitoring, prevention, and mitigation of this phenomenon, for this knowledge to be universally available for all affected regions of the Arctic.

More info: https://www.nukaprojects.com/permafrostlandslidehazards/

Date and Location 

22-24 October 2024 | Victory Bible Camp, Glacier View, Alaska

IASC Working Groups funding the project

• Cryosphere WG
• Social & Human WG
• Terrestrial WG

Project Lead

Costanza Morino, University of Padova, Italy

Year funded by IASC

 2024