Loading ...I do not know to what extent there is a human-caused explanation for the present seemingly high summer melting rates for ground ice that has accumulated and existed for very long periods of time in the formerly permanently frozen horizons of coastal Arctic soils and subsoils.
I have an open mind to hear evidence that the melting of this ancient ground ice is being accelerated by some human actions such as Dane Wigington describes, but I also have an open mind to the possibility that the phenomenon shown for ground ice along the coast of Pelly Island may be a result of earth orbit changes, ocean circulation shifts, or cyclical solar or other astronomic shifts that can happen independently of any human activities.
The only thing that is clear to me is that there is now good documentation of accelerated melting of ground ice in coastal areas such as shown for Pelly Island when compared to such phenomena when I was involved from 1971 to 1980 with vegetation and terrain comparisons of alternative potential overland routes for then-proposed pipelines in the Northwest Territories and along Yukon’s north slope. There are certainly some fairly dramatic changes in near-surface geomorphic processes in the 40 years since I had the opportunity to observe terrain conditions north of the latitudinal tree-line. As for causes for these rate changes in the dynamics of ground ice, I await others to present defensible explanations. Cheers. Equiz