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
Massive blue ground ice exposure on the north shore of Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada.[source?]
- Massive ice - retrogressive thaw slump - Herschel Island.png
Several types of massive ground ice, including ice wedges and intrasedimental ice within the 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.[source?]
- Peat Plateau Complex.jpg
A peat plateau complex south of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories.
Cracks forming at the edges of the Storflaket permafrost bog in Sweden.
- Beaufort Permafrost2.JPG
Recently thawed Arctic permafrost and coastal erosion on the Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean, near Point Lonely, Alaska in 2013.
- Permafrost in Herschel Island 001.jpg
Thawing permafrost in Herschel Island, Canada, 2013.
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.