Permafrost
If you're hiking the wildflower-carpeted tundra around Kotzebue, you are entering a living museum dedicated to permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that lies just a few inches below the spongy tundra. Even Kotzebue's 6,000-foot airport runway is built on permafrost—with an insulating layer between the frozen ground and the airfield surface to ensure that landings are smooth. These days, thawing permafrost can cause problems for communities like Kotzebue: as the ice that binds frozen ground melts due to warm temperatures, the ground collapses and splits, damaging buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. For people in these communities, ice cellars may no longer keep food cold and safe, and thawing permafrost can lead to erosion, impacting sources of water. Other times, tundra lakes can disappear altogether as the surface water percolates down into the thawing soils.
