management strategies

• Ice road


  Requires minimum snow depth of 6 inches, with top 12 inches of tundra soil frozen to at least -5 °C, and the optimum ambient (environmental) temperature being -6 °C
• Ice road construction


  1. Takes place December to February

  2. Roads are built in segments, taking 3 days per 1 mile of road

  3. Workers use snow & ice chips to fill uneven spots to create a level building surface

  4. Workers water the snow- / ice-packed road, letting it freeze between each application of water, until minimum thickness of 6 inches is reached
• Water used to construct & maintain ice roads


  • Come from local lakes
  • Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) & Alaska Department of Fish & Game (DFG) monitor volume of water removed from local lakes to ensure lakes are replenished during spring melt
  • Over abstraction of water from surface freshwater stores is therefore prevented
• DNR stipulates ice roads must be built in different locations every season


  • To prevent environmental damage e.g. over abstraction of freshwater, damage to fragile vegetation
  • This allows any damaged vegetation to recover
• Passive approach to piling structures

  • Does not rely on electricity to provide insulation
  • Provides a shadow effect on the ground under the building, cooling the ground
  • Shelters the ground from accumulating of snow, exposing the ground to cold arctic winter temperatures
  • Does not produce any dark gravel dust
  • Does not reduce albedo of surrounding snow
  • Permafrost continues to be covered by the snow, preventing the active layer from melting
• Therm-O-Trol


  A metal bonded polyurethane foam especially formulated for arctic insulation, used for insulating TAPS
• Therm-O-Case


  A double-walled oil well casing with multi-layered insulation, used to protect against heat transfer from hot crude oil to surrounding permafrost for 2000-foot deep oil wells
• Snake Drill


  • Improved lateral drilling technology
  • Size of gravel pad is now smaller while the drilling area accessible from the gravel pad is enlarged
  • If directional drilling is possible across a wide area from a single drilling site, fewer sites are needed for drilling rigs, reducing impact on vegetation and permafrost (access roads, pipelines, production facilities etc.)