TL: CLIMATE CHANGE AND PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND SO: GREENPEACE CANADA, (GP) DT: JUNE, 1997 In March 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of Alaskan crude oil into Prince William Sound, killing thousands of birds and fish, and significantly affecting marine mammals and other wildlife. The accident and its aftermath became one of the most publicized environmental disasters in history. Bering Glacier Changes, 1900-1992What has received far less publicity however, is the environmental effects on the region of the vast majority of oil that is not spilled but is delivered to customers to be burned in car engines, power plants and building heating systems. Oil and gas, along with coal, are the major contributors to global climate change. Prince William Sound lies on the edge of a vast warming area that stretches from western Canada to the Bering Strait. As a result, some of the world's most dramatic and best documented impacts of climate change can be found nearby. THE BERING GLACIER Although the terminal lobe of the Bering Glacier, located just to the east of Prince William Sound, is slightly smaller than the nearby Malaspina Glacier, the total complex, including the Bagley Icefield, covers 5174 square kilometers and is 191 kilometers long, making it both the largest and longest glacier in North America outside of Greenland. The Bering Glacier, originating in Canada's Yukon Territory, is one of the most active glaciers in the world, sometimes surging forward hundreds of meters in a few months, and then retreating almost as rapidly, calving off huge icebergs and forming large meltwater lakes in the process. The Bering Glacier has retreated dramatically since the beginning of the century (see illustration [ILLUSTRATION NOT AVAILABLE). Only a narrow and rapidly eroding sandbar prevents enormous calved icebergs from escaping into the Gulf of Alaska and threatening shipping and oil tankers. THE KENAI PENINSULA More than 25 million trees have been killed and over 1.2 million acres of forest infested by the worst spruce bark beetle outbreak in Alaskan history. Spreading rapidly on the Kenai Peninsula, the outbreak has now reached Anchorage. The vast numbers of dead and dying trees have also created a major forest fire hazard. Although bark beetles are indigenous to the Alaskan boreal forest, the unprecedented size of this outbreak has been linked to climate change by U.S. Forest Service scientists. Climate change has increased forest water stress, improved conditions for beetle brood development, reduced winter mortality, created a larger dispersal period, and allowed beetles to reach sexual maturity in one year rather than two. PERMAFROST THAWING AND THE WESTERN ARCTIC [MAP CAPTION] Permafrost Warming At Healy, Alaska [MAP NOT AVAILABLE] Permafrost, or permanently frozen soil, is found continuously in most of the Western Arctic, as well as discontinuously further south (especially in shaded areas and north facing slopes). Studies have shown that permafrost is warming rapidly in both Alaska and western Canada because of increasing temperatures and deeper snow packs. The zone of continuous permafrost has moved about 100 kilometers further north over the last century in Canada. Research in Alaska has concluded that most of the zone of discontinuous permafrost is close to thawing. Permafrost thawing has profound implications for two major reasons. First, large areas of permafrost (about fifty percent in Alaska) are ice-rich. When this ice melts, the ground above can subside dramatically, up to 10 meters (30 feet) or more in some cases. Since these ice deposits are erratically distributed, permafrost thawing can transform a level ground surface into a jumble of trenches and pits. This ground disruption, called thermokarst, can destroy a forest stand, spark large landslides on river banks or coastal areas, and tear up roads, buildings and pipelines. Dr. Tom Osterkamp, at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, has been monitoring the temperature of permafrost at numerous sites along the Trans-Alaska pipeline for several years. He has found dramatic warming at many of these sites, warming clearly associated with increasing average air temperatures and deeper snow packs. The illustration here, showing measurements for Healy, Alaska, is a typical example. His research suggests that much of the permafrost in the discontinuous zone may be close to thawing. Thermokarst has forced the abandonment of a hospital in Kotzebue, is ruining homes and the local schoolhouse in Kipnuk, has required the reconstruction of roads in Fairbanks and airport runways in Deadhorse, and has created large landslides and ground collapse near Tuktoyaktuk and many other places in the Arctic. The total economic cost of thermokarst may mount into the billions of dollars. Moreover, ground subsidence, coastal landslides, increased erosion and sea level rise all combine to threaten the very existence of many coastal communities. The second reason for concern is that organic material in thawing permafrost decays rapidly, releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane. Studies in Alaska have found that the tundra has switched during the last few decades from absorbing carbon dioxide to releasing it. Moreover, large summer methane releases are closely correlated to warming temperatures. These greenhouse gases will combine with greenhouse gases released from the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests to further speed up the rate of climate warming, and thus thawing more permafrost - creating a deadly spiral.