Kryotec Arctic Innovation Inc., a Whitehorse-based geoscience company that specializes in permafrost related issues, has developed and is field-testing a permafrost thaw detector (PTD). This device can gather and transmit highly accurate real-time information on permafrost thaw. This will provide an early warning system to avoid damage to infrastructure and track emissions of greenhouse gasses from thawing permafrost. Permafrost (permanently frozen ground) covers much of the northern hemisphere and is projected to rapidly thaw due to climate warming. Melting ice-rich permafrost will also severely damage infrastructure such as buildings, highways, airports and pipelines.
Current systems use temperature sensors to determine if soil is frozen or thawed. These have serious inaccuracies (up to a meter) as both liquid water and ice can exist at 0 C (i.e. a “slushie” or other iced drink –thawed but still contains ice). Permafrost can warm significantly without thawing, but can thaw rapidly and catastrophically near the surface without a significant warming of the main permafrost body. This renders most conventional monitoring techniques almost useless in determining actual thaw. Installation of these systems also requires large drill rigs and sophisticated electronics.
Kryotek’s permafrost thaw detector (PTD) determines the presence and level of liquid water as opposed to solid ice to identify the precise level of permafrost. Thaw can be determined and tracked at the centimeter scale. Data is then transmitted using a simple solar-powered satellite uplink. Users can receive information as an email or text message. The PTD can be installed by a single technician using hand tools in less than an hour.
This phase of the project, supported by Cold Climate Innovation, includes refining the circuit board and adding a satellite uplink. Electronic design and construction is being conducted by an electronics consultant (Shultz Engineering) in Germany who specializes in hydrological geophysics. At the same time, Kryotek is designing and testing the sensor apparatus at a location near Whitehorse. The technology solution will undergo field-testing across the Yukon in the summer of 2016, including locations along the Dempster Highway, Kaminak/Coffee Creek access road and rapidly thawing permafrost in the Mendenhall Valley near Whitehorse. The technology will be tested against existing systems to confirm effectiveness and accuracy. Commercial versions of the device are intended to be available for sale in the winter of 2016/17 for deployment in the spring of 2017.
- Jim Coates, Project Lead, Kryotec Arctic Innovation Inc.
- Technology Innovation Officer, Yukon Research Centre