permafrost

The Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX) with change data for Point Lay on the left and a story map about thermokarst lakes. Credit: AWI Permafrost (from "permanent" and "frost") is ground that continuously remains at or below 0° C for at least two consecutive years. Around 15% of the land surface in the Northern Hemisphere is underlain by permafrost, which often contains and preserves biomass accumulated throughout millennia and…

Comparison between drainage densities and hydrogeomorphic configurations in permafrost and temperate landscapes of comparable relief and annual precipitation. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2307072120 New research from Dartmouth College provides the first evidence that the Arctic's frozen soil is the dominant force shaping Earth's northernmost rivers. Permafrost, the thick…

Satellite image of Tukpahlearik Creek captured on July 23, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9,In Alaska, streams are turning orange as permafrost thaws.Scientists are keenly aware that losing permafrost—the year-round frozen ground prevalent across the Arctic—generally does not bode well for the planet’s future. The thawing of this frozen layer releases the potent greenhouse gas methane, thereby feeding more warming and thawing, while also destabilizing the ground and potentially letting loose dormant…

A commentary in Nature Climate Change raises concerns about how science funding affects Earth System Models, particularly in modeling permafrost emissions for climate predictions. The article emphasizes the need for longer-term funding and advanced resources to improve model accuracy and address the challenges of complex climate modeling. Credit: SciTechDaily.comFunding challenges and complexity have kept permafrost processes out of models that inform global climate targets.The way science is funded is hampering Earth…

Scientists have discovered that methane trapped under Svalbard’s permafrost can escape, risking a warming cycle. Frequent methane accumulations found in wellbore studies highlight the potential for increased global warming as the permafrost thaws. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Scientists say vast quantities of methane may be trapped beneath the permafrost, and it could escape if it thaws.Studies in Svalbard have shown that methane is migrating beneath the permafrost. While lowland regions have ice-rich permafrost which acts as…

December 19, 20233 min readFiber-optic cables buried in the seafloor off Alaska are helping scientists study the thawing of underwater permafrost, which could release greenhouse gasesBy Chelsea Harvey & E&E NewsBeaufort Sea, North coast of Alaska. CLIMATEWIRE | An unconventional method is helping scientists monitor the rapidly warming Arctic.They’re using a fiber-optic telecommunications cable, buried in the seafloor off the North Slope of Alaska, to study underwater permafrost in the chilly Beaufort Sea.The setup…

A permafrost-created a pingo or "ice pimple" in the North Slope of Alaska. Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories have been using a fiber optic cable to study permafrost in the Arctic seafloor to improve the understanding of global climate change. Credit: Sandia National Laboratories The Arctic is remote, with often harsh conditions, and its climate is changing rapidly—warming four times faster than the rest of the Earth.…

Millions of cubic meters of methane are trapped beneath Svalbard’s permafrost, and researchers have recently learned that it can migrate through the cold seal of the permafrost and escape into the atmosphere. This news raises concerns that thawing permafrost could increase methane emissions, further driving up global temperatures.Further, scientists believe that methane deposits of similar size may be found in other places, like the Arctic region, where permafrost is very similar to that found in Svalbard. And…

A methane monster, lurking beneath the Arctic's frozen ground, is threatening to rear its ugly head.Scientists don't yet know how big the threat is or where it will strike first, but what is clear is that the Arctic's permanently frozen soil, called permafrost, is melting, threatening to uncap huge amounts of an extremely potent fossil fuel from its icy prison.If that occurs, it could seriously exacerbate the climate crisis, and yet most research to date has only scratched the surface of how much methane lies below the…

Emily Schwing: Imagine the entire Earth. Now think about the places where all the ground is frozen solid. Do you know where they are? What if I told you that permafrost isn’t only found at the poles and that it exists under the sea, on the Tibetan Plateau and on top of North America’s Rocky Mountains? For Science, Quickly, I’m Emily Schwing. For more than six years, researchers have been working to account for all of the planet’s frozen ground as part of the NUNATARYUK permafrost research project. They’re also going…