Development of Cold Environments (AQA GCSE Geography): Revision Note

Specification links

The notes on this page cover part of 3.1.2.4 Cold environments on the AQA GCSE specification. (opens in a new tab)

3.1.2.4 - Key idea: Development of cold environments creates opportunities and challenges.

• A case study of a cold environment to illustrate:

  • Development opportunities in cold environments: mineral extraction, energy, fishing and tourism.

  • Challenges of developing cold environments: extreme temperature, inaccessibility, provision of buildings and infrastructure.

Opportunities in 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 to 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 and 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