Permafrost

[ysabetwordsmith]

 ... is melting and releasing toxic chemicals stored in it.

Also, the article didn't mention this, but an additional hazard of trying to empty these storage sites safely is that partially melted permafrost is unstable and when fully melted it often forms a mud that behaves a lot like quicksand or tar, sucking things down into it.  Like people or trucks. >_<

I don't expect people will be willing and/or able to clean up this many messes. There is too much other climate mayhem soaking up limited funds and personnel.  So, plan for tens of thousands of severe spills in what is about to become much more valuable territory as the southern areas heat up too much for comfortable living.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

There was a plan (which thankfully didn't happen) back in the 70's to store high level nuclear waste in the permafrost... since water, and thus ice, is a really good shield against radiation. I think we can all be grateful someone saw sense.

But, just about everything else has been dumped there, and then you also have all that oil industry infrastructure built on 'bedrock' that's melting. There was a massive oil spill and fire in Russia not that long ago that's thought to have been the result of that. The ground under a storage tank slumped, buckling the tank, and boom 70,000 gallons of highly flammable oil released in a big flood.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Quite a lot of disasters lie ahead, I suspect.

[goatgodschild]

Not just the stuff intentionally stored in it, either -- the stuff that's been frozen inside, too. There's already stuff in Antarctica that's done similar things to very foolish humans who have decided to go too deep into the continent.

I think you might have mentioned this

[ng_moonmoth]

Never mind, as fannish wags have pointed out for quite a while, the vast number of secret polar lairs, of both superheroes and supervillains, the melting should be uncovering. How long before the Fortress of Solitude shows up on a satellite scan?

[see_also_friend]

I think there are traditional methods for making walkways across bogs...but given the distance and the fact that they mostly would be traversed on foot, I doubt they would be effective for shipping.