A recent CNN report revealed that the infrastructure of the world's northernmost commercial airport, located in Svalbard, Norway, is under threat as the permafrost beneath it starts to melt.
What's happening?
Svalbard is experiencing rising temperatures that are thawing the permafrost, or long-frozen ground, under the airport.
Temperatures in Svalbard have risen about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, according to a 2024 study published in Nature Communications. Warming in the Arctic (and globally) has been linked to carbon pollution, which the community of Svalbard has itself contributed to, in part due to its historical reliance on local coal for energy, as CNN pointed out.
More recently, Svalbard has participated in broader efforts by Norway to decrease its carbon pollution, at least in part because of concerns over permafrost melting.
"The heating and thawing of permafrost has become a significant issue for Svalbard, with the resulting instability and subsidence affecting buildings and infrastructure and increasing the risk of landslides and avalanches," explained Miquel Ros of CNN.
Why is Svalbard's thawing permafrost concerning?
The Svalbard Airport saw over 180,000 passengers in 2019, according to a Simple Flying article, before "an unsurprising abrupt halt in 2020" and then figures slowly rising again after that.
Per CNN, the number of tourists visiting Arctic Circle destinations is at a record high as of 2025.
It's safe to say that the disruption of the Svalbard Airport would mean not only an economic loss for the tourism industry, but it would also jeopardize the community's supply lines.
Svalbard is an archipelago located well off the Norwegian mainland. If the airport were closed entirely, noted CNN, "most of [Svalbard's] essential supplies would have to arrive by ship, a journey that can take up to two days each way."
Thawing permafrost destabilizes solid ground, loosening rocks, ice, and debris. This means sudden avalanches and other natural hazards can become more frequent.
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Never 👎 Thawing permafrost under the airport is only one symptom of the greater issue of a warming Arctic. Rising sea levels, due in part to melting Arctic ice, can intensify the damage caused by extreme weather events such as hurricanes in other regions.
In places, glacial melt can also release a plethora of formerly frozen microbes into freshwater, presenting populations with public health risks.
What's being done about Svalbard's melting permafrost?
Although the Norwegian mainland emphasizes renewable resources, the archipelago has been a mining hotspot, relying primarily on coal-based power plants for energy. It's not just Norway — per CNN, Norway, Sweden, and Russia have all operated coal mines in the local islands.
To prevent any further damage to Svalbard's permafrost, several coal mines and coal-fired plants have been reducing their output or closing altogether. According to an Interesting Engineering report, Svalbard intends to open a biogas plant in 2026, intended to sustain the airport's power needs.
You can help lower your contribution to heat-trapping pollution by reducing your home energy use. You can also choose to support Arctic restoration projects.
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