Posted on 12/03/2012 9:33:56 AM PST by thackney
A mysterious blob of frozen soil, rocks and trees is creeping toward the Dalton Highway, threatening to block the haul road that serves as a lifeline for Alaska's oil and gas industry. It could happen as soon as end of the decade.
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers who have been studying the slow-moving landslide just south of the Brooks Range since 2008 say it is crawling closer to the highway every day. The scientists suspect climate change may have caused the 300-foot-wide finger of debris -- once thought to be motionless -- to gain speed as it slides toward the road.
"It's this giant moving mass and it's going to destroy anything in its way," said Rob Harper, a spokesman for the Alaska University Transportation Center.
The wave of frozen mud, snow and plants slowly spilled from the mountains within the past 5,000 years, researchers said. It is now within about 150 feet of the highway. Moving at a average rate of more than a centimeter a day, it could swamp the Dalton within five to 10 years, said Institute of Northern Engineering hydrologist Ronald Daanen.
"The sooner we come up with a viable solution, the better it is. There isn't a lot of time left," said Daanen, who will present information about the hazard at a worldwide meeting on geophysical sciences next week in San Francisco.
Transportation planners across the country are grappling with extreme weather such as floods, storms and unusual snowfall due to changing weather patterns. In the Alaska Arctic, the frozen debris encroaching on the Dalton Highway presents a new kind of puzzle.
As permafrost shrinks and summers grow longer in the southcentral Brooks Range, researchers wonder: How do you stop an accelerating, landslide-like ocean of mud and splintered trees from destroying one of the state...
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Sounds to me like the plot for a new Godzilla movie - "Godzilla versus the Frozen Blob" (American title) or "Godzirra versus the Frozen Brob" (Japanese title)!
My God, this climate change triggered blob is going to kill all the polar bears in Alaska? So the polar bears will all be stuck on little pieces of ice and helplessly float away from land and starve or be crushed by this landslide in their sleep.
Oh the horror!!
even if it speeds up by a factor of 10.
- - - - -
And if it speeds up by a factor of a few thousand?
She is correct that you never want to cut the toe of a slope.
But sooner or later its going to be in the right of way...and will have to be moved no matter what.
Absolutely. Recycling, climate change, political correctness, queer and womyn's studies top the curriculum.
Do we have to re-discover the obvious over and over?
Yes. Of course they're not really re-discovering it: they're just placing old knowledge in shiny new packages designed to advance certain "progressive" political goals.
Doesn't matter. As someone who lives in a "bottom" I can state with absolute, 100% certainty that, frozen or thawed, $#!+ flows downhill...always has...always will.
Whether it's a pipeline, railroad or a road, following along the banks of rivers and streams in mountainous terrain is the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to build. The longevity of the product of those economies however, is another story.
Leftists suffer from this weird delusion that everything should remain exactly as it is unless they declare otherwise.
“As permafrost shrinks and summers grow longer in the southcentral Brooks Range, researchers wonder: How do you stop an accelerating, landslide-like ocean of mud and splintered tree”
Idiot reporter. I don’t live in Alaska, but I do know that Dalton is nowhere near the Brooks mountain range.
British Columbia has had landslide problems this year. The difference between Canadian news and US news is that they expect this kind of thing to happen.
Wrong. The Dalton Highway crosses the Brooks Range at Atigun Pass. ..of Scenic view of the Dalton Highway winding through the Brooks Range...
Scenic view of the Dalton Highway winding through the Brooks Range, Alaska stock photos by . 315FA_EM0003_002_M Fotosearch Stock Photography and Stock Footage helps you find the perfect photo or footage, fast!
fotosearch.com/AKS008/315fa_em0003_002_m/
If it speeds up by a factor of a few thousand, it’ll all be past the road, they can rebuild the road and the issue is done.
So, begin removing material from the back.
You're welcome.
Looking down from the debris flow:
It would be just as easy easy to click your heals and wish it away, and as productive as your suggestion.
I take it your answer is to throw up your hands and give up. Great.
Ummm, then take out the heel.
Three possibilities:
1. It stops before the road - no problem.
2. It stops just past the road - dig it out.
3. It speeds up to 10 meters per day (your conjecture) - within a few months, it’s finished flowing - dig it out.
No, but your suggestion is as easy as saying, just move the mountain and it will stop flowing downhill.
The peanut gallery always makes a lot of noise but never has any solutions.
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