Development of computational capabilities to assess the impact of climate change on permafrost in Canada's North

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Canada's north is particularly susceptible to devastating effects of climate change. From a ground stability perspective, climate change will cause permafrost degradation as ground temperatures rise in response to global temperatures. Melting permafrost affects all aspects of life in the north including survive-ability, personal mobility, and movement of resources. Putting aside one's opinion as to the underlying causes of climate change, the need to predict the effects of climate change on permafrost is paramount for the future of Canada's north. In order to predict the future, we must first look to the past. GEO-SLOPE Int. is developing new computational capabilities to use climate data as an input for ground temperature computer simulations. First the capabilities must be benchmarked using site-specific conditions, however, there is a dearth of data in the public record. A newly acquired ground temperature database from Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line and North Warning System (NWS) sites located longitudinally across Canada's arctic is now available. Simulating past ground temperatures will develop new computational capabilities, which will then be used to predict climate change effects on permafrost in Canada's north into the future.