Environment

The Race to Save Arctic Cities As Permafrost Melts

As the ground shifts beneath their feet, officials in Canada’s Nunavut turn to creative engineering to save scarce homes—and plan for a future built on bedrock.
A snowmobiler rides past sled dogs on Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. Chris Wattie/Reuters

In Russia, buildings are sagging and crumbling. In Greenland, a wildfire broke out last year. And in Alaska, entire villages may be relocated because the land upon which they’re built is no long trustworthy.

All across the North, the very ground is changing, and the buildings and roads built upon the thawing permafrost are shifting and cracking.