Some results of geothermal investigations of permafrost in northern Alaska

TLDR

Long‑term thermal monitoring in northern Alaska has mapped permafrost temperature and distribution across the Arctic. Permafrost near Barrow reaches a maximum depth of 1,330 ft, with temperatures as low as –10.6 °C, while heated buildings influence ground below 50 ft, shallow frozen ground rarely extends beyond a few tens of feet from the Arctic Ocean shore, and lakes deeper than seven feet remain unfrozen at the bottom with sub‑surface unfrozen zones up to several hundred feet.

Abstract

Frequent, regular thermal measurements in northern Alaska over a six‐year period have provided information on many of the problems related to the temperature and distribution of permafrost in the Arctic. The maximum depth of permafrost near Barrow is 1330 ft. The minimum permafrost temperature recorded, below the depth of measurable (0.01° C) seasonal fluctuation (70 to 100 feet), is −10.6° C. The temperature effect of mediumsized (40 by 100 ft) heated buildings resting on permafrost is measurable to depths well below 50 ft. It is doubtful that frozen ground at shallow depths extends outward more than a few tens of feet from the shore of the Arctic Ocean although it may be present at depths greater than 100 ft. Lakes deeper than about seven feet do not freeze to bottom and may have an unfrozen zone approaching several hundred feet in depth beneath them.