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Periglacial
environments offer more opportunities than glacial environment.
A
periglacial area is an environment which consists on the outside of a glacial
environment. A periglacial environment is usually relatively cold, which
temperatures between -30 C in the winter to 20 C in the summer. It is
characterized by its permafrost, which is ground that has been frozen for at
least two years. Glacial areas are ones which have glaciers within them. These
are large bodies of ice that form over a rather long period of time.
Humans
are generally less attracted to periglacial environments because of their
extreme conditions and limited opportunities and activities. An example of a
periglacial environment is Alaska. The large state consists of 1,718,000
kilometer squared, yet only has a population of about 736,000 people. Its
natural beauty has close to nothing for regular tourists that are interested in
leisure and mainstream travelling. The country did manage to bring in a total
of 1,960,000 million visitors throughout the year of 2016, which shows that a
shift in the interest of tourism is occurring. The tourism is shifting slowly
off the mainstream which is what is generating a 6 percent increase in the
tourism throughout the past year. The average person is beginning to enjoy the
natural world more, meaning more and more people would rather visit places like
this than urbanized or touristic places, which is why the Periglacial area of
Alaska offers a lot. These areas offer amazing site seeing, which is becoming
the most recent trend of tourism. In the winter time however, the temperatures
reach negative 62 degrees Celsius, temperatures that completely cut off
tourism, as it is impossible to reach. This means that Alaska as a periglacial
environment only offers its leisure and tourism during the summer. The
periglacial areas however also allow winter sports activities such as extreme
Heli skiing and snowboarding, offering
tourists a once in a lifetime experience to ski down thousands of meters of
untouched snow. This is however still out of the norm, as most people prefer to
keep to the marked and safe slopes. Overall, the tourism industry in Alaska
generates a total of 1.3 billion dollars per year. When you take that and
divide it with the size of the state, you can find out how much each squared
kilometer generates per year. This turns out to be just above 700 dollars. In
the next paragraph I will compare this to the human activities available in a
glacial region.
The
Hintertux area, a glacial area in the Alps of Austria, is home to one of the
worlds year-long ski resorts. A glacial
area is a large mass of ice that is usually found in high altitudes. Glaciers
offer a lot of human activities, ranging from sport, tourism and leisure
throughout the whole year. This glacier allows its tourists to ski even during
the summer, which attracts people from around the whole world. The temperatures
in this glacial area range from about -20 degrees Celsius in the winter to 15
degrees Celsius in the summer. The glacier covers 25 kilometers squared, which
is not extremely large taking the several million in Alaska into consideration.
The
glacier however, totals at 97,000,000 euro per year from tourism, meaning that
every squared kilometer is making almost 4 million euros. This clearly shows
that tourism is much more interested in a glacial area, as the opportunities
for human activities are much wider.
In
conclusion, the statement that periglacial environments are more useful to
human activities can be assessed as wrong.
Example 2:
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“Periglacial areas offer
more opportunities for human activities than glacial areas.” Discuss this
statement.
Both periglacial and
glacial environments provide many challenges for human activities. Both are
remote; both are fragile environments in the periphery of human expertise.
However, humans have still inhabited both environments to varying degrees of
success. Alaska has approximately 800,000 inhabitants of which 300,000 people
live in one city: Anchorage. The rest of the main land is near to empty as the
majority of the population lives along the coast of the isolated state. Humans
have also managed to inhabit Antarctica, the southern-most continent on the
planet, which houses approximately 4000 people in summer and 1000 in winter. Periglacial
environments offer several unique opportunities for human activities, though glacial
environment pose less challenges.
Periglacial environments
offer opportunities for human activity however, glacial areas also provide
opportunities that periglacial environments do not. A glacial environment
consists of continuous permafrost and therefore the ground does not move and
shift throughout the year. This means that construction is easier and more
durable than on periglacial environments. Furthermore, glacial and polar environments,
such as Antarctica, are niche tourist attractions as they provide pristine and
untouched environments, for unique experiences. In addition, they can be used
for year round skiing, which would otherwise be seasonally limited. Moreover,
Antarctica’s remoteness provides unspoiled information about the past of the
earth and its inhabitants. The ice, which is abundant in glacial environments,
can be cut up for probes which allow researchers to discover what the earth was
like millions of years ago. The only environments on earth that allow for this
research are Greenland and Antarctica.
However, per basic definition of
periglacial environments, they are more accessible than glacial environments. A
periglacial environment is the environment adjacent to a glacial environment
therefore, when traveling from a temperate climate, the glacial environments
will almost always be further away than periglacial environments. On the other
hand, it is significantly challenging to building on as the ground which
constantly shifts. This is evidenced by the construction of the Trans-Alaskan
Pipeline, a pipeline that transports Alaska’s crude oil from Prudhoe Bay in the
north to Valdez in the south of the state. The engineers had to consider the
fluctuations in temperature and therefore the movement of the soil and ground.
The ground composition varies from continuous, to discontinuous to sporadic
permafrost along the longitude of Alaska. The growing active layer on top of
the permafrost moves as a consequence of the diurnal temperature fluctuations.
Therefore, the engineers of the pipeline had to come up with a system that can
compensate for the fluctuation of the ground. To minimize the risk of breaking
the pipeline, the entire above-ground portion of the pipe is on support stilts
called vertical support sliders. This problem is applicable to roads and
railway systems as well, therefore the roads and railway are in a poor quality
and are more difficult to use.
In conclusion, it can be
said that glacial and periglacial areas offer balanced opportunities for human
activities, yet there are more challenges in periglacial environments. Not only
are they more buildable, but they also provide the exclusive opportunity for
researches to discover more about evolution, tectonic activity and the history
of the earth.
Example 3:
It is clear that periglacial environments offer more opportunities for
human activities than glacial areas. Despite periglacial environments
experiencing sub-zero temperatures annually, research shows that periglacial
environments generate significantly more revenue for the economy rather than
glacial areas. This essay will be discussing the advantages that the Trans
Alaskan Pipeline has had on the Alaskan economy and why tourism does not
generate enough revenue opportunities for Antarctica.
Mineral
extraction is a large benefit to having a periglacial environment. The Trans
Alaskan Pipeline is an eight-hundred-mile stretch of pipes that spans over eight hundred miles of Alaska starting from Prudhoe bay
and reaching the northernmost ice free port of Valdez. It was built between 1974 and 1977 due to the
oil crisis in 1973 causing a sharp rise in oil prices for the United States.
Due to the rise of exploration of the Prudhoe Bay oil field, Alaska has been
able to positively benefit from TAPS. The revenue that has been generated from
the mineral extraction of Alaska and more specifically TAPS was $500 million in
one year. However, with every benefit there must be a consequence, the downside
is that the TAPS cost $100 million annually to maintain. Not only that but the
pipeline is extremely ugly and has a negative impact on the beautiful country
side of Alaska. The pipeline threatens possible touristic opportunities for
hiking or cycling which in the long term may affect the balanced economy of
Alaska. Despite this, engineers have designed the TAPS to be almost invincible
to the threat of earthquake and Permafrost given that %80 of Alaska is a
periglacial environment. Earthquakes pose a large
threat in rupturing the pipes thus causing an oil leak. Engineers have designed
the pipes in a zig zag formation which gives them the possibility to survive
earthquakes with a magnitude up to 8.5. This was proven in 2002 when a 7.9
magnitude earth quake on the Richter scale posed a lot of concern amongst
environmentalists. However, the pipe line survived with only minor damage to its support
but not damage to the pipes themselves. This is made possible due to the
pipeline being able to shift along with the earthquake. This incredible piece
of engineering limits oil spills which would save $25 million. Therefore, it is
clear that periglacial environments offer great opportunity for human activity
with the TAPS skyrocketing the economy.
Alaska is a very remote place and is an extreme
environment. It is not suitable for human habitation and is very inaccessible.
However, Antarctica is also home to the largest known glacier in the world
spanning a whopping 100kmm wide and 400km in length. Tourism is the biggest and
arguably only factor that makes money for Antarctica and therefore is so
important. However this instantly indicates that limitations for human activity
in glacial environments. Tourism in Antarctica started with sea tourism in the
late 1960s. Antarctica received an estimated 14,762 visitors in 2000 and during
the tourist season of 2010, received over 37,000 people. The big issue with
glacial environments is that there is little opportunity for human activity.
Therefore, people are not willing to invest heavily into Antarctica because not
only is it heavily protected but the turnout would be so low that one would
lose money. On top of that, it is an EXTREME environment and not suitable for
humans. One must stay in a tent for a week and must participate in a training
course in order to prepare for the extreme cold that one must face in
Antarctica. No hotels, no restaurants, no roads and no airport. This types of
environments do not promote opportunity for human activity which therefore
means that periglacial environments offer more opportunity for human activity
rather than glacial areas.
It was found that periglacial environments offer more
opportunities for human activity. This is due to the harsh conditions that
glacial areas pose. If the environment is not suitable for humans, then there
is most definitely going to be a little amount of opportunity for human
activity. Periglacial environments have more reasonable conditions and
engineers are able to work around them. This is seen in the design of the Trans
Alaskan pipeline.
Example 4:
Periglacial
areas offer more opportunities for human activities than glacial areas
Periglacial areas are located in the
northern hemisphere with a lack of land mass at 60o – 65o
S and are characterized by snow and ice cover on the fringe of glaciated areas.
These areas are usually associated with permafrost or ground that remains
frozen for at least two years. Periglacial regions include high mountains and
tundra areas of northern Europe and north America with temperatures 0o
C to -50o C. Since summer temperatures briefly rise above freezing,
ice in the soil near the surface melts, so there is a lack of permanent ice.
Hence, humans are able to adapt to such environment easily by using its
resources. Whereas glacial areas are large masses of ice with permanent snow
and are located at high altitudes or at the poles. Unlike glacial areas, periglacial areas offer
more opportunities for human activities, such as fishing and mineral extraction,
while glacial areas are able to offer only tourism. Therefore, periglacial
areas, to a great extent, offer more opportunities for human activities than
glacial areas.
Periglacial areas present a variety of
opportunities for human activities in such regions as Siberia and Alaska.
Climate is a significant factor that allows humans adapt to an area with the permanently
frozen ground. There are six months of very cold winters with temperatures
below freezing, and summer temperatures increase to such conditions where plants
will be able to grow. For example, Siberia relies on fishing due to the fact
that it is their main diet and 70 % of Iceland’s GPD is dependent on fishing.
Water is unable to drain through the permafrost so the land remains wet, consequently,
wet areas support insects and birds during the short summer months. In regions
where discontinuous permafrost is found, freezing conditions don’t penetrate to
great depths (20-30 m) so mineral extraction is another opportunity for humans
to make benefit from the region. For instance, the Trans Alaska Pipeline System
has developed Alaska’s economy and strengthened the nation’s energy
infrastructure. Around 90% of Alaska’s crude oil is being transported among 50
states. Thus, the oil industry accounts for one- third of Alaska’s jobs (54,700
new jobs will be created and sustained through the year 2057 by its
development, with 68,600 during production and 91,500 at peak employment) and
about one-half of the overall economy. For Alaska, TAPS is the most convenient
and sustainable way to transport oil and keep Alaska’s economy efficient.
Periglacial environments, despite it cold temperatures offer more opportunities
for humans so that they could adapt use the land.
Glacial areas are significantly
dependent on its extreme climate conditions. Such regions are not suitable for
agriculture; however, they offer tourism. Tremendously cold temperatures and
changed in relative durations of daylight – 24hours dark in winter and to 24
daylights in summer, are controlling factors for human activities. Accumulated
snow starts compacting to form ice, especially in the upper parts of valleys,
causing the mass of ice more downslope, where it reaches lower altitudes and
higher temperatures. In addition to that, it is relatively problematic to make
a great profit from the glacial areas, however, sport and tourism are making
the problem less challenging. For example, skiing in the Alps is a very popular
sports activity, which attracts a lot of tourists. Around 120 million tourists
visit the Alps every year, thus, the economy in the region is sustainable.
Nevertheless, in such area as Antarctica, climate conditions enable humans to
live there. The only activity humans are able to do in Antarctica is
investigations the nature and beauty of the environment. Therefore, glacial
areas limit the opportunities for human activities.
In conclusion, it is evident that
periglacial areas offer more activities for humans, such as extraction of
minerals and finish due to the lack of permanent ice. Glacial areas also offer
opportunities, such as tourism, however, living conditions in glacial areas are
not suitable for humans since throughout the days it is always dark and
extremely cold.
Example 5:
It has been proven that periglacial areas
offer more opportunity for human activity than glacial areas, although glaciers
aren’t left untouched. One of many reasons for this, is that periglacial
environments cover around 25% of the earth’s surface, while glaciers only cover
10%. An example of one of the biggest and most successful human activities in a
periglacial environment is the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline (TAP). This is an oil
pipeline that travels from Prudhoe Bay all the way down to Port Valdez through
Alaska, covering a distance of 1285 kilometers. In glacial environments on the
other hand, the only real opportunity for human activity is scientific
research. An example of this is the opportunity to do a PhD in ice-atmosphere
interaction research.
It is extremely difficult to find any kind
of opportunities in a glacial environment. This is because there is constantly
permafrost, meaning it is very difficult to create any kind of infrastructure
in these areas, such as buildings or roads. There is no opportunity for
buildings, because they require water supplies and electricity, but the water
pumps would be too expensive too insolate and it is very difficult to get
electricity to these areas as no electricity poles or the like can be installed
for electricity supplies in the permafrost and ice. One opportunity that a
glacial environment offers, is the huge amount of fresh water that glaciers
offer all around the world. An estimated 10% of the world’s surface is covered
by glaciers, which hold 69% of the world’s fresh water. This creates the
opportunity for us to extract this water and use it to our advantage. An
example of this being attempted, was in 2008 to 2012 when geologists and
scientists got together to attempt to carry icebergs from Alaska, down to the
western United States. This is a great opportunity offered by glacial
environments, but these plans are yet to get permitted as the pipeline for this
would cost billions. Another opportunity in the glacial area is being established
by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It is an
opportunity for education and research, because one can receive a PhD from this
project. The project is also targeted to increase our awareness of global
warming and to investigate how much of an effect it is having on glacial areas
around the world, in order to battle against it. The project will target the
exploration of how old particular glaciers are, and how vulnerable they are to
climate change. This will include calculating characteristics such as their
density.
In periglacial areas however, it is a lot
easier to find opportunities for human activity. There are no large sheets of
ice preventing infrastructure like in glaciers and the temperatures aren’t as
low. The most successfully developed opportunities in a periglacial
environment, has been the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. This pipeline is designed to
transport oil from Prudhoe Bay in the North of Alaska, down to the Port Valdez
in the south of Alaska. Since it was built in 1975, almost 17 billion barrels
have been transported through this pipeline. The construction of the pipeline
offered 70,000 jobs, mainly for locals as only 15% of the workers were
minorities or foreigners. This has increased the countries welfare and moved a
lot of people out of the poverty zone, because many of the workers were earning
well under the average income before this opportunity. Even today, one third of
Alaska’s jobs are tied to this oil industry. However, periglacial environments
are sometimes hard for human activity to occur in, because the climate in them
is always changing and unpredictable. Furthermore, the different types of
varying permafrost make it very difficult for infrastructure to be effectively
built on the land, without. For example, the TAP crosses through all three
types of permafrost, which are continuous, discontinuous and sporadic
permafrost. This means that is has to be built differently through every single
one of these areas, because the ground is more stable in certain types of
permafrost.
All in all, everyone can agree that
periglacial environments do offer more opportunities than glacial environments,
even though we face significant challenges in both areas when attempting to
exploit them.
Example 6:
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Periglacial and glacial areas come into
contact with both opportunities and challenges to offer human activity. It is
important to understand the challenges humans face in an extreme environment.
Humans where not made to live in extreme environments with very low
temperatures, low precipitation rates, short summers, presence of permafrost,
poor soil. All these factors influence human activity in an extreme
environment. The periglacial environment in Alaska presents both opportunities
and challenges for human activity. The Trans-Alaskan pipeline for example
provided challenges for construction and cost. In comparison Glacial areas such
as Antarctica face similar challenges, one human activity such as the creation
of hydroponics.
The trans Alaskan Pipeline was commissioned
1977 to transport crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The trans Alaskan
pipeline also knows as TAPS was constructed through specialist it took 70,000
workers to successfully build the pipeline. While designing the pipeline
workers had to incorporate multiple perspectives such as the temperatures above
and underground, they had to find a way to make sure the environment was not
altered extremely meaning they had to use isolating panels. The Alaskan
pipeline is surrounded by continuous and discontinuous permafrost this adds to
the difficulty level of creating the pipeline. Due to the physical conditions
of the extreme environment 32 people lost their life’s. During summer seasons
the pipeline would be at risk due to fluctuations of the permafrost. To prevent
the pipeline damaging the permafrost insolation was installed in order to
prevent the permafrost melting. The pipeline goes through Denali fault, a
strike-slip fault between Anchorage and Fairbanks this region is prone to
earthquakes such as the one in 2002 at a magnitude of 7.9. In order to prevent
the pipeline and the ground getting damaged during the earthquake the pipeline
is elevated off the ground on sliders called the vertical support system, this
system allows for vertical and horizontal movement as well as being able to
contract and expand with movement. This was designed specifically in the case
of an earthquake as well as permafrost melting.
Hydroponics is a new technology developed in
order to grow vegetation without soil but with oxygen rich water. Researchers
discovered that this development has ‘deep roots in history’ of the example
‘hanging gardens’ as well as related to the Aztec culture. The extreme
environment of Antarctica makes it very difficult to grow crop between only having
4 hours of light and then 4 months of darkness. In Antarctica glaciers are
melting rapidly in order to not lose water researchers are trying to find a way
to transfer the water from the glaciers to a location where they can use
hydroponics in order to grow vegetation and not lose water into the salt water.
The water can then be used to grow vegetation in the summer. Due to the harsh
weather conditions in the Antarctic and the little amount of sunlight they get
each day it is difficult for humans to live there. The ground is frozen and
very hard so nothing can be grown. The structure in which hydroponics are
created had to be engineered in order that the ice underneath the structure
would not melt and harm the glacier.
In conclusion periglacial environments offer
more opportunities for human activities than glacial environments as
periglacial environments are prone for possible waterlogging in the summer
however engineers have found a way in which they constructed the structure of
the TAPS in order to not harm the environment and be able to transport oil. As
well that the pipeline brought a road next to it helping the people living
there to transport easier. In Alaska, a periglacial environment it is difficult
to live as there is little vegetation, ground is frozen and summers are short
as well as growing seasons however in comparison to the Antarctic a glacial
environment where there is only 4 hours of very little sun light a day and the
only vegetation able to be grown for the few hundred people living there is
made through hydroponics and or shipped over from Australia. Overall
periglacial environments provide more solutions and more possibilities for
human activity to take place.
EXAMPLE 9
EXAMPLE 10
EXAMPLE 11
EXAMPLE 12
EXAMPLE 9
Both periglacial and
glacial areas offer a wide variety of opportunities for human activity such as
mineral extraction and transportation, however in many cases the efficiency of
this human activity is extremely limited due to various climatological and
topographical factors limiting this activity. Taking into account all of these
factors, and by utilizing case studies from both periglacial and glacial
environments the statement “Periglacial areas offer more opportunities for
human activity than glacial areas” will be discussed.
The continent of Antarctica
is globally recognized to be a glacial environment. When regarding facts,
Antarctica seems the optimal site for numerous forms of human activity with its
massive fresh water supplies, unprecedented amounts of mineral deposits such as
uranium, oil, coal etc. As the demand for these vital minerals rises due to
their excessive, unsustainable usage, the need for Antarctica as a mineral
extraction site becomes exponentially more important. Fortunately for this
planet, unfortunately for its oil and uranium hungry corporations the Madrid Protocol, which entered into force in 1998, sets out the
principles under which environmental protection in Antarctica is to be
regulated. These regulations include a ban on all forms of commercial mining
for at least 50 years. Therefore, until this treaty is reviewed in 2048, no
country will benefit from that which lies beneath Antarctica's giant ice
sheets. In addition to this official ban, the climate in Antarctica contributes
extreme weather conditions as well as inaccessibility, further hindering the
exploitation of this glacial environment for human purposes. The temperatures
at research station Vostok regularly drop to around -65°C, for a human to be able to survive this, very
advanced technical clothing is necessary to sustain their body temperature.
Naturally, this equipment is very costly, revealing another factor limiting
human activity in glacial environments. In addition to literally inhumane
temperatures, the windspeed in Antarctica can reach up to 250 kph (category 5),
making even indoor work at research stations a difficult process. Furthermore,
the weather fluctuates unpredictable, making it difficult to forecast weather conditions.
The inaccessibility of Antarctica and other glacial environments further
validates this statements claim, the next permanent human settlement being As can be seen in the film “Antarctica - a
year on ice”, wherein the last flight leaving Antarctica before winter is
shown. This highlights how costly and infrequent transport in and out of
glacial environments is made by their inaccessibility. Overall, the challenges
posed by conditions in glacial environments far outweigh the opportunities.
Periglacial
environments however, as can be seen at the example of Alaska facilitate far
less extreme weather conditions as well as prove to be far more easily
accessible than glacial environments. Similar conditions as those observable in
glacial environments limit the efficiency of human activity, however these
occur on a far smaller scale. At the stead of a permanent ice sheet covering
them, periglacial environments are characterized by a layer of subterranean
permanently frozen soil called permafrost. Although this permafrost limits
mineral extraction to an extent, the soil above it has versatile applications
which an impenetrable ice sheet cannot supply. These applications include that
of crude oil pipelines. This can be especially well observed at the example of
the the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). the TAPS includes the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump
stations and several hundred miles of feeder pipelines. It originates in
Prudhoe Bay, northern Alaska and terminates at the Valdez Marine Terminal.
As of 2010, the pipeline had shipped over 20
billion barrels of oil. That is 20 billion barrels of oil that would otherwise
have been shipped through the Arctic ocean, the Pacific ocean and the Bering
sea, running the risk of massive amounts of oil leaking into the ocean as seen
in the Exxon Valdez oil spill at Prince William Sound on the 24th of March
1989. That day, 257,000 barrels of oil leaked into the gulf of Alaska. The use
of pipelines, especially in periglacial environments, in transporting oil,
ultimately diminishes the possibility of human failure causing such a
catastrophe. The pipeline’s safety systems are far more advanced than any oil
tankers’, the oil flow can be stopped within four minutes of a leak being
registered by one of three highly sensitive leak detection systems. In addition
to this, the Trans-Alaska pipeline is far more efficient and environmentally
friendly seeing as it pumps twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and
transports oil 4 times faster than full loaded oil tankers have the capacity
to. As the ice sheets in Antarctica are constantly in motion and due to its
inhuman weather conditions as well as its inaccessibility, maintenance of such
a pipeline in Antarctica or any other glacial environment would be virtually
impossible. Civilian life in periglacial environments is very common, glacial
environments on the other hands are merely home to researchers and those few
who are indigenous to the area.
In conclusion, there
are no treaties currently banning the extraction of mineral resources in most
periglacial environments and although the conditions in periglacial
environments pose a substantial challenge towards mineral extraction, they are
comparatively less difficult challenges to overcome. Therefore it can be deduced,
that periglacial areas in fact offer more opportunities for human activity than
glacial areas.
EXAMPLE 10
“Periglacial areas offer more opportunities for human
activity than glacial areas.” Discuss this statement.
This statement implies that there are more opportunities in
Periglacial than Glacial environment for humans, which simply is not the case. This
will be demonstrated through the case studies of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System
(TAPS) in a periglacial area, where mineral extraction is the main form of
economic growth, and the Montana Glacier National Park (MGNP) in a glacial
area, where tourism is the greatest form of income. This essay will argue that
there are indeed more opportunities in Glacial than Periglacial areas for human
activity, as tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world.
The main opportunities for human activity in Periglacial
areas are in mineral extraction. An example of this is TAPS, which runs through
Alaska, supplying 20% of USA’s oil. This equals to 1,416.2 million barrels per
year. Considering that TAPS is able to supply such a large quantity of oil
every year, it would be thought that it is one of the most profitable
businesses. However, with it being in a periglacial area, there are severe
challenges that it faces on a daily basis. TAPS is extremely difficult to get
to in case of an emergency as it is in the middle of Alaska, hundreds of miles
away from urbanisation. To bring in repairs it would require the cost of
transportation as well as the cost of the product itself before it can arrive
some days later than it is needed, causing mass spillages to get out of hand.
This is also extremely expensive for the transportation and the cost of
clearing up oil spills would cost millions of dollars. From TAPS, Alaska is gains
$3,492.43 per km2, which seems like quite a lot of money considering
how scarcely populated the state is, but when you consider how much of that
money goes to the corporations that own it, less than 5% of the money is put
back into the local community. Extreme weather variation also occurs in
periglacial areas, causing freeze thaw to take place. This disrupts and
destroys the pipes unless expensive and technical heating is installed, making
it a lot riskier and difficult for human activity to take place. This weather
change requires constant observation and replacements, which in the case study
of TAPS is extremely difficult due to the span of the pipeline as well as its
remoteness, making repairs difficult and expensive to do. TAPS is employing 800
people from Alaska to monitor the pipeline. For a pipeline that spans over 800
miles to employ only 800 people, it shows how few opportunities for human
activity is being offered by the Glacial environment.
From the case study of MGNP we are able to see that the
small 4,000km2 that it is in, is able to supply jobs for 2,824
people living around the area through restaurants, hotels, and shops from human
activity in making it a tourist site. The local businesses, as well as the
people directly employed by MGNP are able to thrive as this opportunity for
human activity has allowed secondary establishments to become more successful.
This is as a consequence of tourism, people need a place to stay as well as
somewhere to eat, which these local businesses are able to exploit for their own
gain. From the annual 4.8 million visitors to this tourist site, $400 million
are spent in the local area. This works out to be $100,000 per km2
that a glacial environment is able to gain per annum. This is 28.9 times as
much as the periglacial environment as the money from tourism significantly
outweighs the profits that mineral extraction and other activities from
periglacial areas are able to return. Not only does tourism make more money per
km2 but it also remains in the local community rather than going to
big corporations who own TAPS such as BP and ConocoPhillips. As glacial areas
are able to employ local workers, it creates a larger workforce for locals.
This allows for the employees and secondary earners to have direct and fact
access to MGNP, making it more accessible to the people who take the
opportunities for human activity. This shows that the human activity in glacial
areas, by building a touristic reputation for the MGNP, hugely offers more
opportunities as almost 3,000 jobs were created as an effect of tourism. This
is as well as obtaining almost 28.9 times as much money as periglacial areas
for everything that is needed is already in the area rather than being spread
over 800 miles and being harder to access.
All in all, as glacial areas are able to, through tourism,
gain more money per km2 per annum than periglacial areas, greater
opportunities for human activity can be created as money stays in the local
environment as well as all the resources and employees living in the area
rather than having to travel hundreds of miles to deliver spare parts.
Periglacial environments are more susceptible to weather changes and thus have
a greater risk and less opportunities for human activity than glacial areas,
making the statement incorrect.
‘Periglacial areas offer
more opportunities for human activity than glacial areas’ Discuss this
statement.
Both periglacial and glacial
areas have potential for human activities to take place through different
aspects such as tourism or mineral extraction. Using the examples of the Trans
Alaska Pipeline System, where oil is transported daily, and Antarctica, which accommodates
thousands of tourists annually, this statement will be explored as we see the
advantages and disadvantages of both environments.
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) runs
800 miles through the periglacial environment of Alaska to help provide around
17% the United States’ crude oil. This form of mineral extraction has adapted
to fit the periglacial environment that the pipeline is located in, showing
that there are both challenges and opportunities to TAPS. Around half of the
pipeline runs underground and a main adaptation that has had to be made is
installing heaters due to the permafrost underground that would inevitably
freeze the oil inside of the pipeline, due to it being located in a periglacial
environment. In Alaska the average temperatures range between 23°F and 65°F
throughout the year and this slowed down the initial construction of the
pipeline itself as the builders had to put up with harsh winter conditions. TAPS
was built in a periglacial environment because it was believed that the
opportunities outweighed the challenges with this mineral extraction. The main
opportunity was the scarcely populated land in Alaska, with a population of
only 700,000 people in a state that is larger than Texas, Montana and
California combined. This meant that the pipeline could be put up with little
complaints from the Alaskan people, and the government were keen to build this
pipeline due to 1973 oil crisis, that occurred the year before construction of
the pipeline. The opportunities that are relevant today from TAPS include the
economic boom that has occurred through increases in jobs, housing and
salaries. This was possible as there were an extra 800 jobs for workers on the
Pipeline and this caused salaries in the surrounding area to be raised to match
those working on the Pipeline. Overall, we can see how although there were
challenges to begin with when constructing TAPS, the opportunities now seem to
outweigh these initial challenges as we see an economic boom in the area that
was one scarcely populated.
Antarctica is located in a glacial area and
welcomes around 38,000 tourists per year, despite being an extreme environment.
The challenges that occur here are the low temperatures that the tourists, who
come from all around the world, are not used to living in with the average
temperature being around -26°C. Despite Antarctica being the coldest continent
on the planet, tourists visit for the wildlife, the sightseeing ship based
cruises and seeing the south pole. However, because of the extreme cold
temperatures, the tourists do not stay for as long as a regular holiday and
this causes a lack of money being made annually from the visitors. The most
popular activity for the tourists are the cruise boats and these are limited
only from March- November as this is when the ice has melted enough to allow
access to the boats. The opportunity with the tourist industry in Antarctica,
that has brought 38,000 people annually, is the uniqueness of the area and how different
it is from anywhere else around the world. Another opportunity is the landscape
and beautiful the icebergs, glaciers and mountains but inevitably, the remoteness
of the continent has made the trip expensive for tourists through special
accommodation to fit the extreme cold temperatures and long hours of daylight
as well as long flights to arrive. From this, it is clear to see how although
opportunities do come from the tourist industry in Antarctica, there are more
challenges that occur from this glacial environment and the cold temperatures.
To conclude, the glacial area of Antarctica
receives over 38,000 people per year visiting but the challenges of the extreme
cold temperatures and remoteness show that there are little opportunities for
human activity in this area. On the other hand, the Trans Alaskan Pipeline in
Alaska has brought many economic and social opportunities to the previously
scarcely populated state of Alaska, found in a periglacial environment and this
outweighed the initial challenges of constructing the pipeline in a cold
environment. From this we see that there are more opportunities for human
activity in periglacial environments than glacial environments when using these
two examples, showing that in this case this statement is correct.
EXAMPLE 12
Although
periglacial environments pose some economic benefits for the local population,
glacial areas are often necessary in order to sustain lives in the area thus
making them more important for the population in question. Periglacial
environments are in the most simple terms areas on the periphery of glaciers
and glaciers are typically large bodies of ice moving due to their own weight
transporting all kinds of materials mostly scree.
On
the one hand periglacial regions offer a lot of economic benefits for the
population who live in them or anybody who is connected to them in any way. One
example where the opportunities are used effectively in periglacial areas is
the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). TAPS attracts 10s of thousands of
tourists each year who visit the pipeline and thus boost the local economy. A
lease for drilling oil in Prudhoe Bay was worth 900 million$, which was around
eight times the state budget at the time. TAPS is responsible for the most jobs
in Alaska being responsible for around 1/3 of all jobs in addition the oil
revenues average at about 85% of state revenue in Alaska. Alaska has gained
about $157 billion simply from oil. In Alaska the oil has been worth more than
any other product, which was ever sold and this only due to TAPS. However TAPS is also limited by some of the
characteristics of the periglacial environment challenging the opportunity. The
temperatures can range from -62.3 degrees Celsius in winter to 38 degrees
Celsius in summer. This means that the pipes have to be extremely well
insulated as the oil has temperatures of around 37 degrees Celsius according to
the Oil and gas Journal. This is a very costly issue as first of all the oil
has to be 37 degrees hot in winter for it to flow freely however no heat from
the pipeline is allowed to escape either as otherwise the surrounding ecosystem
could be effected. This is one of the reasons for why the bill of the pipeline
was as high as 8 billion dollars. Additionally, 124, 000 heat pipes were
created, which are placed near the pipeline. These are necessary as in some
cases the insulation is not enough and heat manages to effect the ground
temperature. This is where the heat pipes come into play as they transfer heat
from the ground into the air. However, this in return also has negative impacts
on the environment as now the heat is no longer trapped in the ground but
rather in the air causing the overall temperatures to rise. Overall there are a
lot of opportunities connected to periglacial environments which bring economic
benefits.
Although
glacial environments do not typically bring that many economic benefits to
local populations they are vital in order to sustain life in these areas. One
opportunity that glaciers pose is providing drinking water for entire
populations. Experts estimate that around 2 billion people depend on the
glaciers in the Himalayas for their drinking water. Major rivers in China,
India, and Vietnam such as the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Ganges or the
Mekong River all originate from Himalayan glaciers. During the summer season
the ablation zones of the glaciers supply the rivers with icy water that flows
from the Himalayan plateau. As long as this water from the supplies continues
to exist all surrounding ecosystems and cities are guaranteed a continuous
water supply. This shows that merely in this area around 2 billion people’s
lives depend on the water opportunities posed by glaciers as without them they
would all be forced to migrate to different regions of the world completely
changing living patterns around the world. Another opportunity which glaciers
pose is the use of glacial valleys and glacial rivers as a means to gain
energy. The steep sides of glacial valleys are ideal to building dams and due
to the high levels of precipitation there is always a lot of water to create a
steady flow of water. These dams create jobs for the local population as they
can work in helping to maintain the dam. It also supplies energy for other
regions. On the other hand, using glacial valleys to build dams also has
negative consequences as the landscape of the region usually has to be changed
in order to redirect rivers. This effects the land used by farmers and can have
negative impacts on the wildlife. This shows that glacial areas can also be
used for gaining energy. Glaciers are also often tourist attractions which can
be seen in the Charmonix area in France. Tourists are vital in the area in
order to sustain the local communities. Although there are only around 10,000
local people living in the area around 5 million people visit the area each
year contributing to the local economy. In addition these tourists bring with
them the improvement of infrastructure as this is needed in order to
accommodate the tourists. These amounts of tourism also bring problems to the
local community though. One of the main issues is that the social composition of
the area is changing. Local inhabitants can no longer afford to live in the
region as rich tourists compete for their homes making it impossible for the
locals to stay. The tourists actually cause the maintains to erode as there are
so many of them that they have shaped the topography of the area. Finally the
houses in the towns have become empty even though the number of tourists have risen
as these houses are 2nd or 3rd houses for many meaning
that they only live there sporadically.
Overall
periglacial environments can mainly only be used for economic benefits on the
other hand glacial regions pose opportunities for life in regions which would
otherwise not be habitable and also bring other benefits such as energy from
hydro plants and economic benefits from tourism.
EXAMPLE 7
“Periglacial areas offer more opportunities for human activities
than glacial areas.” Discuss this statement. (10)
Glacial and Periglacial environments are located in the northern
part of the globe with the exception of Antarctica in countries such as Russia,
Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Antarctica and the United States. Like in all
places Periglacial and Glacial environments both have opportunities and
challenges for human activity to take place. However, the opportunities don’t outweigh
the challenges in Periglacial environments more than glacial environments. Challenges
include climate, remoteness and natural hazards whereas Opportunities include
Climate, tourism and natural resources.
The climate, tourism and outstanding natural beauty all
contribute to the opportunities for human activities in glacial environments.
The natural beauty of glacial environments attracts tourists to come to these
places. An example is the Horstman glacier in Whistler Blackcomb, Canada which
offers glacier sport activities such as skiing for everyone with intermediate
skill levels and over. Over the summer it has 13 different summer ski and
snowboarding camps. Due to tourism these summer schools are able to gain
sufficient business in order to stay open. The Horstman Hut is just one of 17
mountain restaurants in the area. Horstman hut is located on the 7th
Heaven chair on Blackcomb Mountain at 2,284m offering a 360-degree view of the
Horstman glacier, whistler valley and the Black Tusk peak attracting the most
tourists out of all the restaurants. In 1999-2000 2,180,000 tourists visited
the Horstman glacier with 7/8 of the tourists eating in at least of the 17
mountain restaurants, suggesting that tourism is a large opportunity for human
activities within glacial environments. The climate also influences how many
tourists actually come. This is due to the fact that if the climate is not
suitable for sport related activates then the amount of tourists would decrease
dramatically as this is the main opportunity for glacial environments.
Although there are some opportunities within glacial
environments there is also many challenges that have to be faced. These
challenges include the climate and natural disasters. In many glacial
environments the climate is a factor that affects the extent of which human
activity can take place. Glacial environments are considered “extreme
environments” and the climate defiantly supports this. The coldest ever
temperature recorded is -81 degrees Celsius in Yukon, Canada which has a
population of an estimated 33,890 people (2011). The darkest place is in the
glacial region Alert Bay, located on the northeast coast of Canada at 82
degrees north. It does not receive any sun for 50 days in the year, suggesting
the reason why many people don’t want to live in glaciated regions. These
conditions become dangerous and hazardous if no adaptation or technological
advances are made. There are many tourists that come to glacial regions however
there are nowhere near as many tourists.
There are also many natural disasters such as avalanches, landslides and
flooding from glacial melt that can occur within these environments making it
hazardous for people to live in those areas also proposing why human activity
becomes extremely difficult to sustain.
Periglacial environments are located on the outskirts of glacial
environments. There are opportunities for human activities for people like the
indigenous people within periglacial environments. The indigenous people also
known as the Inuit, are able to reindeer herd and hunt in groups together due
to the climate they were exposed to. Most Inuit groups economy is based on
sea-mammal hunting, fishing and food gathering. The Inuit groups are able to
continue this as the environment they are located in are giving them the
opportunity to continue. The main challenge about living in a periglacial
environment is the soil temperatures. This is due to the fact that almost every
single human activity involves the production of heat what can have a unfavourable effect on the underlying ground. The heat might melt the permafrost
and therefore lead to a thermokarst landscape. Other challenges that are faced
in periglacial environments include very low temperatures, low precipitation
rates, short summers which lead to short growing seasons for crops, extended
periods of snow on the ground, blizzards etc.
In conclusion I do not believe that the statement “Periglacial
areas offer more opportunities for human activities than glacial areas.” Is
correct. Although there are many opportunities for human activities in
periglacial environments there are also many opportunities within glacial
environments. As seen in the essay there are also many challenges and some may
argue that the challenges faced within periglacial environments outweigh the
opportunities with regard to human activities thus periglacial environments
cannot offer more opportunities for human activities than glacial environments.
EXAMPLE 8
Periglacial areas offer more opportunities for
human activities than glacial areas.” Discuss this statement.
Glacial areas are the areas where
glaciers could be found. The term Periglacial refers to the areas that are marginal to glacial environment, and are characterized with
permafrost. I disagree with this statement as both
glacial and periglacial areas equally offer opportunities as well as challenges
that come with it. Opportunities in periglacial areas mainly include mineral
extractions- and in this case the extraction of oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
System (TAPS) in Alaska. Similarly, opportunities
in glacial areas include tourism and occasionally the production HEP energy,
and the case study used to support this is Chamonix, France.
Opportunities and challenges co-exist
in the glaciated area of Chamonix. Chamonix is situated 15 km from the Swiss
border and is located in the north western part of the Alps. Chamonix which is
a town that normally
has a population of 100,000,
has been attracting tourists for about 250 years, for which its population
increases to about 100,000 people in
summer and 60,000 in winter. Chamonix’s excellent topography provides the
tourists with the opportunity to ski, snowboard, paragliding and ice climbing.
This also results in plenty of hotels, restaurants and a range of spas and
heated swimming pools specifically for the cold weather. Chamonix can be easily
accessed by rail and road via Italy, Switzerland, and France. The town of
Chamonix offers the tourists to rock climb, hiking, mountain biking and
cannoning. Tourism in this Swiss town bring a lot of economic benefits- some
being employment for local people to work in bars, hotels, as guides and
instructors. The income got from tourism can be used to support local services
such as shops, laying of roads, improving public transport and health care. And
specifically, the jobs have changed from agriculture sector to tourism sector. However,
there are times where the town gets too congested and noisy especially in the
peak times of winter. This also suggests that tourists congregating at the same
time, will exceed the carrying capacity of the town which could result in a
decline in quality of life, as the environment can no longer support the
exceeding numbers. Large numbers of tourists worsen the traffic. In fact, a
study from 2002 to 2004 showed that traffic pollution was worse in Chamonix,
than in the center of Paris. Mountain. Access to
Chamonix via motorway is excellent, nevertheless in Chamonix, the roads are
narrow and become easily jammed. Footpaths
have become eroded due to the sheer volume of visitors, both walking and using
mountain bikes. This also increases the chance of landslides as increasing
number of trees have been pulled down to build ski resorts. Additionally, a
very recent avalanche that occurred on the 8th of January, near
Chamonix claiming 4 lives, was caused due to an increase in number of tourists putting extra weight on the snowpack, which
shows that the risk of getting more avalanches is directly proportional to
increase in number of tourists. Furthermore, there could also be social disadvantages, as conflicts could arise between different groups of people. Mass tourism
activities can create unwelcome noise and damage to the environment, which can
detract the enjoyment of those seeking more peaceful activities. Tourism isn’t
the only opportunity for the glaciated area of Chamonix, as its glaciated
valleys provide an opportunity for production of hydroelectric power- an
example of this being the Lac d’Emosson. Their steep sides, high precipitation
and low population density make them ideal places for dams to be built bringing
economic benefits and the production of electricity. Overall, the glacial town
of Chamonix provides opportunities and challenges for human activities.
Similarly, the TAPS which is one of the
world’s largest pipeline systems carrying oil provides opportunities and
challenges for human activity. The pipeline carries oil from Prudhoe Bay to
Valdez which is in Alaska. So far it has shipped 16 million gallons of oil. The
opportunities include that of TAPS being able to transport large amounts of oil
within a short period of time. From an economic point of view, this has
resulted in Alaskans to earn $25 billions of personnel income. Moreover, Alaska
has moved from being the most heavily taxed state to being the most tax-free
state in America. TAPS has also provided job opportunities for the local
population that suffer from financial problems - 21,000 people were employed at
the time to construct the pipeline. Furthermore, the construction of the
pipeline has lowered the U. S’s dependence on other regimes such as Saudi
Arabia and Russia, and this lowers the cost of oil too. However, the challenges of the TAPS mainly
revolve around permafrost and cold temperatures. Despite the fact that most of
the pipelines in the world are completely built underground, that isn’t the
case in Alaska where temperatures are frigid. In many parts of the state, the
subsoil is permanently frozen and the temperatures have remained below 0
degrees for at least 2 years- which is termed as permafrost. Therefore, the
planners came to the conclusion that the pipeline couldn’t be built on
permafrost and hence made the decision that 600 km of the pipeline would be
built above the ground and 675 km underground. This was a challenge to the
planners as if they had built the pipeline over the permafrost, the heat of the
oil could cause the permafrost to melt, which can result in the pipeline to
leak. Similarly, during winter, the soil surrounding the pipe has the potential
to freeze again- this freeze thaw cycle can result in the pipeline to move and
cause serious damage. Due to the high risk of damage, the areas where the
pipeline is buried underground, is either refrigerated or insulated with
Aluminum radiators to keep the permafrost from thawing. Another key characteristic
of this pipeline is that its built in a zig-zag direction, as this relieves the
effect of contraction and expansion. Additionally, Alaska is prone to
earthquakes- (the largest earthquake to hit the U.S was in southern Alaska
measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale), therefore it was very important that the
pipeline was built in a certain way that it could withstand seismic shaking,
and this was a major challenge surrounding the TAPS. Vertical Support Systems
(which also allows the permafrost to remain frozen) helps in allowing the
pipeline to move horizontally and vertically during earthquake- hence the
reason why it’s built in a zig zag direction. It should also be noted that the
VSM’s allow for expansion and contraction due to temperature. Moreover, the
region where the pipeline was built, has challenging topography such as ice
wedges, due to the discontinuous permafrost. Adding to that, the temperatures
of the discontinuous permafrost and the Talik provides the pipeline with
challenges as they are always required to be refrigerated. In addition, there
are financial challenges that revolve around the maintenance of the TAPS. The
maintenance is expensive as it involves air surveying several times a day and
‘scraper pigs’ (which is now no more in use). In addition, if the pipeline were
to be built today it could cost up to $31billion, compared to $8 billion when
it was first built. Social challenges include that the TAPS is built through
various settlements such as Rampart and Delta- which can affect the people
living there. The pipeline continuous to obstruct the caribou migration, which
can affect their survival as they are unable to migrate southwards during
winter. Therefore, it can be seen that the human activity of extracting oil in
the periglacial region of Alaska is faced with opportunities and challenges.
In conclusion, the periglacial region
of Alaska and the glacial region of Chamonix equally offer opportunities and
challenges for tourism and mineral extraction.
