Yukon Permafrost

Alaska Highway Kettle 🪏

Some more images of the kettle from above! Notice the features surrounding the site, including the surface cracks, exposed peat & slumped trees - all indicators of active thaw.

We're studying this site near the Alaska Highway (km 1850) because of its hazard potential. Here we can see the proximity to the road - as the buried ice melts, it could cause risk from ground subsidence.

Using ERT surveys and UAV-based elevation modeling, we're mapping the extent of the ice and tracking how the landscape is changing.

Alaska Highway Kettle 🪏

It may not look like much at first — but underneath this ground depression could be glacial ice buried since the last ice age, potentially 12,000 to 20,000 years old! ❄️

This feature is called a kettle. When the Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreated from this area, isolated blocks of glacial ice were left behind and buried under sediment. Thousands of years later, that ice is finally melting — and the ground above it is sinking. The water at the kettle’s base comes from a mixture of surface runoff, groundwater, and possibly the ice melt itself.

This drone footage was taken during a site analysis where we did ERT surveys along the highway and across the kettle to map the extent of the buried glacial ice. It gives you a first look at just how much the ground has already dropped - a reminder of what lies beneath our feet in the Yukon!

🌡Dry Creek Thermosyphon Research🌡

Join us at Yukon U tomorrow for Research Days 2026! Cyrielle Laurent & Louis-Philippe Roy will be sharing our Thermosyphon research at the Rapid Research Talks at 1:45 pm.

We have some interesting data from the thermosyphons at Dry Creek, km 1840 on the Alaska Highway. These devices were implemented by Highways and Public Works (HPW) to mitigate subsidence due to thawing massive ice beneath the road. We have been monitoring this site through drone surveys and boreholes instrumented with temperature sensors, providing us with data since 2020.

As shown here in the thermal imagery, the thermosyphons are effectively extracting heat from the subsurface, decreasing ground temperatures and slowing thaw under the Alaska Highway. We've seen substantial permafrost re-aggradation at several boreholes along the study area, indicating that thermosyphon activity is promoting refreezing.

Data from 2025 also suggest that the system remains thermally active - temperatures are still cooling and further stabilization may occur in the coming years. In the meantime, we will continue monitoring!

🛠️ 2025 Fieldwork Wrap-Up 🛠️

As the year comes to a close and our team is staying warm in the lab, we're looking back at our busy field season - 2025 was a great year, from data monitoring on the North Alaska highway in the spring to drone surveys on the Dempster in August.

Stay tuned for an in-depth dive into our ERT survey results & much more in the new year!

Happy Holidays from PRG ❄️

Busy Spring at the Permafrost and Geoscience Research Group (PGR)!

Our teams have been hard at work conducting field activities along the Dempster and North Alaska highways to download and maintain our permafrost ground and weather monitoring network. We oversee over 50 stations on these stretches alone, ensuring the integrity and accuracy of our data every year.

Regular maintenance helps us prevent data gaps, monitor for damages caused by winter conditions—such as cold, snow, animals, and wear and tear—and keeps our research on track. The temperature data collected is vital for understanding and analyzing changes across our territory, especially along infrastructure built on permafrost.

Most of our stations along the North Alaska Highway have now reached the 10-year mark, enabling us to start analyzing decade-long ground temperature trends. Stay tuned for more updates and insights!

Field Trip Recap: Aerial Survey of Thermosiphons on the Alaska Highway

Our team recently conducted a field trip utilizing a radiometric thermal camera payload attached to our DJI Matrice 350 RTK drone.

The primary goal was to assess the effectiveness of thermosiphons installed at km 1840 (Dry Creek) on the Alaska Highway. This mitigation method was implemented by Highways and Public Works (HPW) to stabilize the embankment, which has been experiencing subsidence due to thawing massive ice buried beneath the roadway.

By capturing detailed thermal images, we hope to examine the temperature dynamics of the site and understand the role of the thermosiphons in maintaining ground stability. This research enhances our understanding of the impact of climate change on infrastructure and improves road safety for travelers.

Stay tuned as we analyze the data and share our findings!

🚗 Gearing Up for Our Final Trip of the Season! ❄️

Next week, our team heads to the Dempster Highway for the last trip of the season. On the agenda: collecting and maintaining our permafrost temperature monitoring stations and capturing some LiDAR drone imagery. It's been another fantastic field season, thanks to our dedicated crew! Stay tuned for more updates from the team as we head toward lab season! 🌍📊

🛠️ Fieldwork Update from the Alaska Highway! ❄️

Our team is out in the field along the Alaska Highway, completing the final data downloads and ensuring all our sites are prepared to withstand the harsh winter ahead. Most of our monitoring sites are equipped with a datalogger connected to a thermistor string—temperature sensors placed at various depths in a borehole. This setup allows us to continuously monitor the thermal state of the permafrost, providing crucial data on how these environments respond to changing conditions.

Stay tuned for more updates from the field! 🌡️🌲

🌡️ Ever Wonder About Those Weather Stations Along Yukon’s Highways? 🌲

These weather stations play a crucial role in our research by collecting localized climate data to monitor changes over time. Since permafrost ground temperature is closely linked to mean annual air temperature, this data helps us study long-term trends and better understand the rate and causes of permafrost degradation. By monitoring these changes, we gain valuable insights into the impacts of a warming climate on our northern landscapes.

Stay tuned for more updates on our findings! 📊❄️

📍Alaska Highway Permafrost Research Update❄️

Our team has been busy collecting permafrost cores from sites along the Alaska Highway that have experienced significant degradation. In this photo, you can see an ice-rich permafrost core composed of fine sediments, featuring several lenticular ice lenses. These cores provide valuable insights into the impacts of permafrost thaw and help us better understand the evolving landscape dynamics in these sensitive areas.

Stay tuned for more updates from the team! 🌍🔬

📍Demspter Highway Permafrost Research Update❄️

Last week, our team was on the Dempster Highway conducting our annual drone survey missions. The data collected have become essential for monitoring the evolution and degradation of sensitive sites along the highway. This year, we enhanced our capabilities with two new tools: a LiDAR system, which allows us to generate ground surface models with high efficiency, and an infrared thermal camera that captures temperature variations across the landscape.

This thermal image was collected at Chapman Lake. The image reveals degrading ice wedge polygons in the foreground and a retrogressive thaw slump near the bottom, situated between the Dempster Highway and the Blackstone River. These features are significant indicators of permafrost degradation, which can have substantial impacts on the landscape.