Arctic infrastructure was built on frozen ground – drones and digital twins can help spot the permafrost thaw coming
A view of Wainwright, Alaska, which sits on low-lying coastal terrain underlain by permafrost. Ming Xiao From the air, Wainwright, Alaska , looks like a perfectly stable band of homes and roads between the Chukchi Sea and a vast, flat tundra. But just below the surface, the frozen ground that this…
Résumé
Arctic towns built on ice
Cities and towns in the Arctic, such as Wainwright, Alaska, were constructed on ground that remains frozen year-round, known as permafrost.
This frozen soil often contains large amounts of ice, which is invisible from the surface.
As temperatures rise—up to two to three times faster than the global average—this ice begins to melt.
When it does, the ground can sink, crack, or erode, destabilizing roads, buildings, and pipelines.
For example, a 2025 study estimated that permafrost thaw could cause between $37 billion and $51 billion in damage to buildings and roads in Alaska alone.
Along the coast, melting permafrost accelerates erosion, bringing homes closer to the ocean’s edge and increasing the risk of collapse.
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