Researchers set up permafrost thaw alert system on major highway connecting Yukon and Alaska

A metal rod stands tall at kilometre 1,456 on the Alaska Highwayas land near the roadcontinues to slowly collapse from permafrost thaw.

It's the first device of a new alarmsystem that will tell Yukon's Department of Highways and Public Works when the roadis under threat from further destruction caused by thawing.

"It's very concerning to have this type of process, the ripping, so close to the road corridor," Dr. Fabrice Calmels, research chair of geoscience at YukonU Research Centre, told CBCNews.

The team's data could eventually be used to help develop solutions to remediate the damage caused by thawing, he said.

Extreme temperatures

Permafrost is any ground that is completely frozen for at least two consecutive years. In the Yukon, that means there is a thick layer of ice underneath the ground's surface.

At this spot 30 kilometres north of Whitehorse, known as the Takhini Slump to Calmels and his team, permafrost isthawing at faster rates than ever before. The ground appears to be collapsing in spots, with sometreesslumped over or knocked down.

Calmels and his researchers first came to this site two years ago to start their research. At that time, the slump was 95 metres from the road. Now, it's 40 metres away.

Record-breaking temperatures in the Yukon this summer, caused by a heat dome over the Pacific Northwest, sped up the permafrost thaw. That means the slump got five metres closer to the road in just one month, Calmels said.

At this rate, the slump will reach the highway in the next three to four years, he said.

Cyrielle Laurent, a geographic information systems technician at YukonU Research Centre and a member of the team, said Yukoners should know that permafrost thaw could have major impacts on their day-to-day lives.

"This road is the only access that we have to Alaska," she said. "So if it goes down the drain, some people won't have access to their homes, to Whitehorse, to the hospital."

How the alarm system works

In order to set up the alarm system, the research team drilled holes into the ground and thenput insensors that measure humidity, temperature and other important factors every hour.

A computer analyzes the data. If it notices a threat to the highway, eitherimminent or one that could come due to an extreme weather event, it will alert the Yukon government.

The alert system at the Takhini Slump is one of the first to be set up in Canada, with a few more sites in operation in northern Quebec. Eventually, the system will also be set up along the Dempster Highway, in both Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

"This is affecting many sites in Northern Canada," Calmels said. "When you are in very remote areas, you cannot monitor all these sites, so you need to have a system that can record specific data that can be analyzed remotely."

Calmels said they haven't found a solution yet to slow the movement of the TakhiniSlump.

The research team has a couple more touches to make on the system before it becomes fully operational, Calmels said, but that should be completed before the end of the year.