Building permafrost knowledge, one foam model at a time

I think the hardest thing to comprehend about permafrost is what it looks like in three dimensions inside the ground. To help people visualize, I handcrafted 3D permafrost landscape models for an informal education project called "Hot Times in Cold Places: Permafrost During Climate Change." Our team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been on a mission to increase permafrost and climate change knowledge across Alaska by holding community events. Attendees interact with the models along with demonstrations, real permafrost samples and Ice Age mammoth, bison and horse bones.

Sometimes permafrost's presence can be inferred, such as where the tundra shows honeycomb-like patterns from growing ice wedges. Ice wedges are a network of large wedge-shaped ice features. When these ice wedges melt, the ground sinks above them, creating a grid of sunken ground on the surface.

Melting ice wedges also cause Alaska's roller coaster roads and high costs of infrastructure maintenance. It is hard to visualize this interaction between ice wedges and the ground surface, which is where the models come in.

I carved my first set of permafrost models  out of blue foam board insulation, using techniques borrowed from model train hobbyists. We have now exhibited these original foam and paint models in over 35 rural Alaskan communities as part of our NSF-funded informal education project. The models help break down communication barriers between permafrost scientists and the public. They elicit comments like "Oh! So that is what creates the pattern on tundra!" or "Oh! That is why some houses are built up in the air!" They often trigger the public to share stories with scientists of what they have seen and experienced related to climate and permafrost — and no technical jargon is needed.

During the past three years, the "Hot Times in Cold Places" team has been asked so many times to leave their models and demos in the community that we sought funding to make that a reality. With a grant from the National Science Foundation, the team will produce and distribute 60 kits nationally. The new models will be 3D printed and paired with signs and lesson plans, including a children's book. The kits include material on ice wedges, pingos, ice lenses, permafrost engineering and the response of permafrost to warming. The team is seeking informal education organizations to receive the kits. To learn more, visit www.permafrosttunnel.org.

A separate part of the project has been a partnership with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which created a large exhibition titled "Under the Arctic: Digging into Permafrost." This exhibition will travel nationally and is on display in Portland until Aug. 5.

Margaret Cysewski is an interdisciplinary doctoral student and education developer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is studying permafrost engineering before pursuing a career in science education.