Permafrost is a cryospheric topic referring to ground (soil, sediment, or rock, with included ice and organic material) that remains at or below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years. Its thermal and hydrological regimes are governed by surface energy balance, snow cover, vegetation, and ground ice content, leading to stratified active layers that thaw seasonally above a perennially frozen substrate. Permafrost dynamics influence geomorphological processes such as thermokarst formation, ground subsidence, and slope instability, and critically regulate carbon and methane fluxes from frozen organic matter. Research on permafrost integrates climatology, biogeochemistry, geotechnical engineering, and remote sensing to quantify its stability and feedbacks within the Earth system.
Parts of Earth's climate system can change abruptly once warming pushes them beyond critical thresholds. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, coral reefs and major ocean currents are all among the ...
Earth Sciences
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As Ted Schuur stepped along the edges of Smith Lake, a bubble surfaced from the muck underfoot. And then another. They're bubbles of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas made from decomposing plants and animals that had once ...
Environment
Oct 4, 2026
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Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) School of Earth and Environment senior lecturer Dr. Robinson was part of an international research team investigating the Aug. 26 disaster, when a massive rock and ...
Environment
Oct 2, 2026
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Soils are warming quickly and at considerable depth across Alaska, with temperatures rising fastest in the state's permafrost region, a trend that could accelerate climate change and undermine the stability of roads, buildings ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 1, 2026
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From the air, Wainwright, Alaska, looks like a perfectly stable band of homes and roads between the Chukchi Sea and a vast, flat tundra. But just below the surface, the frozen ground on which this town was built contains ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 29, 2026
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The bright orange plumes of water scientists first noticed billowing across a river in Alaska's Brooks Range in 2018 were even more acidic and metallic than water leached from metal mines, despite their pristine surroundings. ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 24, 2026
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An international team of glaciologists and climate scientists, including professor Bethan Davies from Newcastle University, carried out a rapid scientific analysis and identified the role of climate change and its impacts ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 17, 2026
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Human-caused global warming thinned glaciers and thawed mountain permafrost, likely helping to destabilize the Himalayan slope that collapsed last month and unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal, according to a report ...
Environment
Sep 17, 2026
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New research shows that warming-induced emissions—greenhouse gas emissions from natural sources driven by rising temperatures—could amplify global warming by approximately 20%–30% and add an estimated 0.2°C–0.4°C of warming ...
Environment
Sep 10, 2026
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For centuries, French and Italian mountain communities on the flanks of Western Europe's highest peak have gazed upon seemingly eternal glaciers and snow that gave the colossus its name: Mont Blanc, the white mountain.
Environment
Sep 9, 2026
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