Melting Permafrost
Along with warmer arctic temperatures scientists forecast that more permafrost will melt. This has implications for things like pipeline maintenance, since it reduces the period of time each year when heavy equipment can be brought into permafrost areas. It also has implications for the potential release of carbon and methane that has been stored in the permafrost.
The 2014 National Climate Assessment contained this diagram documenting gradually increasing permafrost temperatures across the arctic region.
Looking forward, the area of permafrost is expected to decline dramatically during the course of this century. Some of the models project something more than a 50% loss, others more than 90%. In either case, the Arctic will be a very different place. Extracted from "2010 NRC Climate Stabilization Targets" (available in the Climate Web).
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