Drilling into permafrost on Alaska's Arctic coast
![Photo looking up at a man wearing safety gear and cold weather clothing holding a big drill with puffy white clouds in the sky.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/BR_Drill.jpg?itok=BRYBnBU-)
Detailed Description
On remote Barter Island, Alaska, Bruce Richmond (right) and Cordell Johnson drill into 500-foot-thick permafrost using a handheld drill with a 2-inch drill bit—a challenging task! It can take 3 hours to drill nearly 20 feet down. They collect samples of the frozen ground to better understand how climate change is affecting permafrost thaw on Alaska’s Arctic coast.
Sources/Usage
Public Domain.