Development of Cold Environments (AQA GCSE Geography)
Revision Note
Written by: Jacque Cartwright
Reviewed by: Bridgette Barrett
Opportunities of Cold Environments
The development and exploitation of resources puts cold environments at risk while providing opportunities
Opportunities include:
Mineral extraction
Energy
Fishing
Tourism
Mineral extraction:
There are valuable reserves of gold, silver, iron ore and copper
Many countries are increasing their mining activities beneath the tundra
Russia has exploited a large portion of the tundra to extract minerals
Energy
Gas and oil are abundant
The US government is extracting oil from the oilfields near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Heat from the terminal buildings, workers homes and transport to and from the oil fields has led to permafrost melt and buildings subsiding
Fishing
The cold coastal waters have good fish stocks
These waters attract commercial fishing
The deep, cold water is ideal for unusual fish, which command a high price in markets around the globe
Overfishing had led to fish stocks being depleted
Tourism
Places such as Antarctica have seen an increase in the number of tourists
Approximately 170,000 tourists visited Antarctica in 2020
Adventure tourism to extreme cold environments is a growing industry for countries and local communities
Challenges of Cold Environments
Development brings challenges that need overcoming:
Relief/physical geography
The rugged and mountainous terrain make these areas inaccessible for vehicles to deliver goods and materials for development and day-to-day living
Extreme temperature
Very low temperatures and long hours of darkness make building anything difficult
Infrastructure
Building roads, railways and pipelines for water and electricity supplies is very difficult on frozen ground that is liable to melt
Pipelines need to withstand freezing as they cannot be buried underground due to the permafrost
Buildings
If the permafrost layer begins to melt, the ground will become unstable with possible landslides
Creating solid foundations for buildings is difficult on frozen and unstable ground, making any further development difficult
Case Study: Alaska
Development opportunities in Alaska
Oil and gas: Over half of Alaska’s income comes from the oil and gas industry
Most oil fields are around Prudhoe Bay and the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline links the oil fields to Valdez, where the oil can be shipped out
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is 800 miles long and built to transport the oil across Alaska rather than ship due to the Arctic sea ice in winter
Mineral resources: Gold, silver, iron ore and copper ore are mined, particularly in the Tintina gold belt region
Tintina Gold Belt extends for 150,000 square kilometre in an arc-shape across Alaska
First mined during the Klondike gold rush of 1898 and continues to this day
Approximately 30% of Alaska's wealth comes from the gold industry alone and accounted for over $900 million
The total contribution of mineral resources to the Alaskan economy is estimated at over $2.2 billion (2021)
Fishing: Salmon, crab and pollock are fished in the waters around Alaska
It employs 100,000 people and contributes over $6 billion to Alaska’s economy
Tourism: Tourists are attracted to Alaska’s wilderness scenery
Over 2 million tourists visit Alaska each year
Each year in Anchorage, tourism creates thousands of jobs, brings in approximately $290 million in direct spending, more than $38 million in local taxes, and improves the quality of life for residents and visitors
Challenges to development in Alaska
Access to resources, finding a workforce, providing buildings, infrastructure and protection from extreme weather are particularly challenging in Alaska
Extreme temperatures
Annual temperature is around -9°C with snow and strong winds
Exposure to them can kill and healthcare is usually at a distance
Vehicle and equipment failures are common and getting them repaired is difficult and time-consuming
Extremes in the amount of daylight—in winter it can be dark nearly all the time and mental health issues are common
Accessibility
Alaska is over 21 hours by road from the US
Many areas are extremely remote, and the mountainous terrain makes access difficult and expensive
In winter, access to some towns is either by air or on dangerous ice roads
In summer, due to ground melt, some main roads are impassable as they are too soft to drive along
With a small and scattered population, people in small towns can be a long way from employment opportunities or services and goods
Everyday goods (food, drink, clothing, toys, etc.) are very expensive as they have to be shipped in and during the winter months it can take weeks or months for shipments to arrive
Buildings and infrastructure
Buildings and infrastructure need to cope with the frozen ground and weather conditions
This makes it difficult and expensive to build in Alaska
Most building work has to take place during the summer as the days are longer and temperatures are warmer
The value of Alaskan resources means finding ways to adapt to the challenges:
Parts of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline are raised on stilts; this prevents the permafrost from melting and making the ground unstable
In areas of permafrost, houses are raised on stilts to prevent their heat from melting the frozen ground beneath (which can cause the land to sink and subside)
Reducing heating costs through triple-glazed homes and geothermal power
Alaskan roads are built on 1-2-metre-thick gravel pads that stop heat transferring from vehicles to the soil beneath, which would cause permafrost to melt and roads to crack
Worked Example
Assess the importance of inaccessibility and extreme temperatures as challenges to development in cold environments. Use a case study and your own understanding.
[6 marks]
Answer:
This is a levelled answer, and you must examine how challenging extreme temperatures and lack of accessibility are to development in cold environments
You may agree with the statement or feel that it is partly or mostly true or not at all, but whichever statement you feel it is, you must support your views with examples from a case study
Finally, you need to understand some of the challenges to developing cold environments and whether they are more of a challenge than temperature or accessibility or do they rely on each other?
e.g. There is no point in developing an area if there are no natural resources to exploit because nobody would want to live there anyway; therefore, extreme temperatures or accessibility would have no bearing on development
Some challenges of extreme temperatures:
Mean annual temperatures are well below freezing
Extreme weather, such as snow and strong winds, are common
Exposure to the extreme cold can cause injury or death, and healthcare may be a long distance away
Cold environments are subject to extremes in the amount of daylight—in winter, it can be dark nearly all the time. In the summer, when the active layer thaws, buildings can subside and transport routes become damaged
Some challenges of inaccessibility:
Some areas are extremely remote, and the mountainous land makes access difficult and expensive
In winter, the only way to get to some towns is via air or dangerous ice roads
In summer, there are no roads to some towns because the ground is too soft
People in small towns may be a long way from employment opportunities or services
Case study support:
Alaskan temperatures can fall below -30 °C and these extreme temperatures make it dangerous to work outside, with a serious risk of frostbite
Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States. separated by approximately 800 km (500 miles) of Canada. Juneau and Anchorage are two of the largest cities in Alaska There are very few roads in Alaska, and access to rural communities involves travelling by air, river, or the sea. Most people use dogsleds or snowmobiles, particularly in the winter, to get around
Your evaluation will consider how important one or more of the factors limit development
You may consider that the extreme cold is the most significant factor because there is limited settled population in many cold environments. In Alaska, although the state is the largest of the US, the majority of the population are found in major urban cities such as Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau, with Anchorage having at least half of Alaska's total population living there
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