Degradation of permafrost damages infrastructure and can jeopardize the sustainable development of polar and high-altitude regions. Warming and thawing of ice-rich permafrost is related to several natural hazards, which can pose a serious threat to the integrity of constructions and the economy. In this Review, we explore the extent and costs of observed and predicted infrastructure damages, and methods to mitigate adverse consequences of permafrost degradation. We also present the diversity of permafrost hazards and problems associated with construction and development in permafrost areas.Finally, we highlight seven topics to support sustainable infrastructure in the future. The observed damages are substantial and cumulative problems of infrastructure can be exacerbated owing to the increasing human activity in permafrost areas and climate change.It has been estimated that from one-third to more than half of critical circumpolar infrastructure could be at risk by mid-century. Permafrost degradation-related infrastructure costs could rise to tens of billion US dollars by the second half of the century.To successfully manage with climate change effects in permafrost areas a better understanding is needed about which constructions are likely to be affected by permafrost degradation. Especially, mitigation measures are needed to secure existing infrastructure and future development projects. Key points• Operational infrastructure is critical for sustainable development of Arctic and highaltitude communities, but the integrity of constructions is jeopardized by degrading permafrost.• The extent of observed damages is substantial (up to tens of percentages of infrastructure elements) and is likely to increase with climate warming.• From one-third to more than 50% of fundamental circumpolar infrastructure is at risk by mid-century.• Engineering solutions to mitigate the effects of degrading permafrost exist but their economic cost is high at regional scales.• There is a need to quantify the economic impacts of climate change on infrastructure and occurrence of permafrost-related infrastructure failure across the permafrost areas.• Future development projects should conduct local-scale infrastructure risk assessments and apply mitigation measures to avoid detrimental effects on constructions, socioeconomic activities, and ecosystems in permafrost areas under rapidly changing climatic conditions.

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Composition B (Comp B) detonation residuals pose environmental concern to the U.S. Army because hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), a constituent, has contaminated groundwater near training ranges. To mimic their dissolution on surface soils, we dripped water at 0.51 ml/h onto individual Comp B particles (0.1-2.0 mg) collected from the detonation of 81-mm mortars. Analyses of the effluent indicate thatthe RDX and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in Comp B do not dissolve independently. Rather, the relatively slow dissolution of RDX controls dissolution of the particle as a whole by limiting the exposed area of TNT. Two dissolution models, a published steady-flow model and a drop-impingement model developed here, provide good agreementwith the data using RDX parameters for time scaling. They predict dissolution times of 6-600 rainfall days for 0.01-100 mg Comp B particles exposed to 0.55 cm/h rainfall rate. These models should bracket the flow regimes for dissolution of detonation residuals on soils, but they require additional data to validate them across the range of particle sizes and rainfall rates of interest.

Field sampling experiments were conducted at various locations on training ranges at three military installations within North America. The areas investigated included an anti-tank range firing point, an anti-tank range impact area, an artillery-range firing point, and an artillery-range impact area. The purpose of this study was to develop practical sampling strategies to reliably estimate mean concentrations of residues from munitions found in surface soil at various types of live-fire training ranges. The ranges studied differ in the types of energetic residues deposited and the mode of deposition. In most cases, the major source zones for these residues are the top two or three centimeters of soil. Multi-increment sampling was used to reduce the variance between field sample replicates and to enhance sample representativeness. Based on these criteria the results indicate that a single or a few discrete samples do not provide representative data for these types of sites. However, samples built from at least 25 increments provided data that was sufficiently representative to allow for the estimation of energetic residue mass loading in surface soils and to characterize the training activity at a given location, thereby addressing two objectives that frequently are common to both environmental and forensic investigations.