It's not actually a peninsula, it just felt like one...
Barrow is "Arctic Tundra" which sits on "Permafrost" (permanently frozen ground) that is as much as 1,400 feet deep. What you see in the video is the mucky top layer that thaws out during the warmer months (June through September). It was a warm 35 degrees Fahrenheit when I shot this video, and people around town were telling me that they had just come out of a crazy heat wave (in the 50s/60s) a month-or-so earlier.
They are not able to build structures (houses, buildings, etc..) directly on top of the ground in a permafrost zone. If you look at the police station (minute 3:05), you can see the obvious gap between the building and the ground. Some of the things they do to ensure that the structures do not sink are elevating the structures on stilts, insulating the bottom of the structures, and building on top of gravel pads--all in an effort to prevent heat from reaching the ground; if the ground heats up, some of the ice melts and creates muck and sink holes.
Walking around Barrow, Alaska (Sept. 22, 2012) ...
