Numlock Sunday: Christian Elliott on how Alaska is falling to pieces

By Walt Hickey

Welcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.

This week, I spoke with Christian Elliott, who is out with a great new article called Lessons of a landslide detective in National Geographic all about the glacial collapse, Alaskan landslides, and the detective-geologist trying to save the state. Here is what I wrote about it:

Geological instability is of specific concern in Alaska; retreating glaciers, permafrost thaw and intense weather are causing more frequent landslides. Studying landslides is hard and predicting them even moreso. Getting the resources and monitoring equipment out in the field can face local opposition as a desire to learn what the ground is doing is overwhelmed by what knowing this information may do to property values. In Alaska, geologist Bretwood “Hig” Higman has worked to study these shifting landscapes through inexpensive, widely deployed radar instruments. They are enclosed in mason jars to deter animal interference and enter the field at about $300 a pop…