Abstract |
Air temperature increases observed over the last few decades in the Arctic affect economic activities and human infrastructure. This paper focuses on geographic evaluation of such impacts associated with climate change including duration of heating season, duration of winter road operations, and stability of infrastructure foundations in the Russian Arctic. Climate datasets and modeling techniques were used to quantitatively evaluate the changes between the 1970s and the 2000s. Our analysis shows negative effects from observed climate change, particularly on the stability of building foundations and the duration of winter road operations. Results are presented as a series of maps portraying spatial variability of changes found in several administrative regions of the Russian Arctic. |