Environmental Impacts of permafrost degradation

Permafrost underlies approximately 50% of the Canadian landmass and is found in offshore areas beneath the Arctic shelf. Permafrost is warming at depth through taliks, along faults and methane leakage maybe enhanced from historical exploration wells and is also degrading in some areas as the surface active layer is thickening. As permafrost warms and degrades, contaminants including heavy metals, trapped greenhouse gases and saline pore fluids are being naturally released into the environment and the liberation of organic carbon through permafrost degradation stimulates microbial activity. Recent estimates also suggest that permafrost represents the largest global reservoir of mercury, with active pathways for migration and uptake in the food web. This project is striving to assess the environmental implications of warming terrestrial, coastal and offshore permafrost and therefore provide a baseline to better appraise the environmental consequences of resource development. Active permafrost-related geological processes and their impacts on the environment will be assessed using a broad and various suit of geophysical, sampling and monitoring techniques. Key outcomes will include; 1) improved and adapted environmental practices for resource development projects in permafrost settings allowing industry to follow safer and more cost efficient practices and regulators to better appraise development projects, 2) improved environmental assessment of cumulative effects of resource development, and 3) assessment of permafrost environmental considerations within the broad context of human health.