Today's climate change spotlight: Roads and runways sinking in Quebec

[Newsjock]

http://nunatsiaq.com/news/climate/60908_02.html

Take a piece of black paper and lay it on the ground for a while. When the sun shines, it won’t be long before you find a mucky mess underneath and the black paper slides away.

That’s the kind of impact that higher temperatures are having on the roads and runways of Nunavik, largely built above a layer of permafrost, or permanently frozen ground.

And this is why the Quebec transport department is scrambling to fix the damage – and avoid future problems – on airport access roads and runways which are buckling and splitting as permafrost melts under Nunavik’s ever-warmer temperatures.

Due to rising temperatures in Nunavik, a recent report from the Transport Department says melting permafrost is now “inevitable” and will become “a problem for all the transport infrastructure” in the region.

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