November 20, 2025

Monitoring landslides on Alaska’s Brooks Range

Posted by Kyra Bornong

Gazing upon one field site near Chandalar Shelf, summer 2024. Scale is difficult in the photo, but this landslide is over a mile from the toe to the headscarp. Satellite imagery has shown it rapidly encroaching on the stream channel in the bottom of the valley.

Introduction

In July 2025, we installed Cryologger Glacier Velocity Trackers on two landslides in Alaska’s Brooks Range. We are pairing these GNSS measurements with shallow ground temperature profiles to measure how landslide movement fluctuates through the year as heat penetrates the subsurface. These landslides occur deeper than the active layer, but within the depth of the modeled permafrost table, raising questions about mechanisms for heat transfer deep into the subsurface and the assumed stability of frozen ground.

PhD Research

These observations are part of my PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where I work with Louise Farquharson in the Geophysical Institute Permafrost Lab.

My PhD research is focused on studying the dynamics of large landslides in permafrost-underlain hillslopes in the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range. Direct, multiyear observations of permafrost conditions and deep-seated landslide dynamics are extremely sparse across Alaska’s mountains, with the bulk of permafrost landslide studies focused on retrogressive thaw slumps, active layer detachments, and frozen debris lobes, which are all much shallower features. By looking at more deep-seated features, we hope to better understand how these landslides may work as agents or symptoms of permafrost degradation.

Looking Ahead

We are really grateful for the relatively low-cost, low-learning curve approach to using the Cryologgers! We are extremely excited to see if we were able to capture any impacts from a historic atmospheric river event in late August 2025. More updates to come!

~Kyra Bornong