Road Salt Damage to Historical Milestones Indicates Adaptation of Winter Roads to Future Climate Change May Damage Arctic Cultural Heritage

Abstract

There is no doubt that anthropogenic global warming is accelerating damage to cultural heritage. Adaptation measures are required to reduce the loss of sites, monuments and remains. However, little research has been directed towards understanding potential impacts of climate adaptation measures in other governmental sectors on cultural heritage. We provide a case study demonstrating that winter road salt, used to reduce ice related accidents, damages historical iron milestones. As the climate warms, road salt use will move north into areas where sites have been protected by contiguous winter snow cover. This will expose Artic/sub-Arctic cultural heritage, including Viking graves and Sami sites, to a new anthropogenic source of damage. Research and planning should therefore include the evaluation of secondary impacts when choosing climate adaptation strategies.

Analytical Model for the Load-Bearing Capacity Analysis of Winter Forest Roads: Experiment and Estimation

“…For example, depending on a number of conditions, the cost of building a winter road is at least two times lower than the cost of building a non-freezing road [1]. However, an increase in the average winter temperature and more frequent winter thaws [4] reduces the possibilities of the winter removal of wood. To adapt to shorter periods of winter road use, forest companies may have to not only consider weather forecasts but also monitor the bearing capacity of forest roads [5,6].…”

Journal of Water and Land Development

“…Two main ways are used globally for de-icing: mechanical way (sand, crushed stone, rock crumbs) to increase friction, and chemical way (reagents containing Na, K, Mg salts with various additives) [GERASIMOV, CHUGUNOVA 2015;XU et al 2021]. In Canada only, about 5000.00 Gg of road salt are used annually in China -600.00 Gg in year, in Sweden -150.00 Gg in year [ANTONSON et al 2021;RØDLAND et al 2020]. There are other known innovative methods that are less commonly applied due to their high cost: construction of roads with solar panels (USA), thermal water pipes under urban streets (Iceland), "heated sand" technology (Scandinavian countries), electric roadbed heating technology -"underfloor heating effect" (China), etc.…”