Permafrost

File:Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground Ice Conditions.png

Map showing the extent and types of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere.

Two men dig in Alaska to study soil. A jackhammer is used to break the hard permafrost

In geology, permafrost is soil that stays frozen all year. To be called permafrost, soil must stay at or below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years. Permafrost is also called cryotic soil. Most permafrost is on land close to the North and South poles. Other permafrost is found in high mountain areas. ^[1] When permafrost melts, carbon dioxide is released which can be bad for the environment.

Permafrost Media

Sayedi 2020 post LGM permafrost.jpg

Changes in subsea permafrost extent and structure between the Last Glacial Maximum and 2020
Coulombe 2019 ground ice diagram.png

Labelled example of a massive buried ice deposit in Bylot Island, Canada
Massive ice - retrogressive thaw slump - Herschel Island.png

Cliff wall of a retrogressive thaw slump located on the southern coast of Herschel Island within an approximately 22-metre (72 ft) by 1,300-metre (4,300 ft) headwall.
Peat Plateau Complex.jpg

A peat plateau complex south of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories.
Storflaket.JPG

Cracks forming at the edges of the Storflaket permafrost bog in Sweden
Recently thawed Arctic permafrost and coastal erosion on the Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean, near Point Lonely, Alaska in 2013.
Hugelius 2020 peatland projections.jpg

Permafrost peatlands (a smaller, carbon-rich subset of permafrost areas) under varying extent of global warming, and the resultant emissions as a fraction of anthropogenic emissions needed to cause that extent of warming.
Fig 1.2.15 Schematic showing feedback processes related to land and subsea permafrost..png

Feedback processes related to land and subsea permafrost.

References

↑ Schuur, Ted (2016). "Thawing Permafrost Would Accelerate Global Warming. Thawing Arctic tundra will likely speed up climate change for a century or more. The question is: How drastically?". Scientific American. 315 (December 2016): 56–61. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1216-56. PMID 28004690. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

Other websites

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[1] Schuur, Ted (2016). "Thawing Permafrost Would Accelerate Global Warming. Thawing Arctic tundra will likely speed up climate change for a century or more. The question is: How drastically?". Scientific American. 315 (December 2016): 56–61. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1216-56. PMID 28004690. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

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