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.
Warming temperatures and increased precipitation in the Canadian High Arctic are mobilizing new pathways for subsurface contaminants to spread from more than 2,500 contaminated sites associated with industrial and military ...
Environment
Nov 6, 2025
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Permafrost thaw can stimulate the release of soil carbon, triggering a positive carbon-climate feedback that may be mediated by changes in soil phosphorus (P) availability.
Earth Sciences
Oct 24, 2025
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In a remote cave in northern Greenland, a research team led by geologists Gina Moseley, Gabriella Koltai, and Jonathan Baker from the University of Innsbruck has discovered evidence of a significantly warmer Arctic. The cave ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2025
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Frozen in time, ancient microbes or their remains could be found in Martian ice deposits during future missions to the red planet. By recreating Mars-like conditions in the lab, a team of researchers from NASA Goddard Space ...
Astrobiology
Oct 15, 2025
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In a new study, a team of geologists and biologists led by CU Boulder resurrected ancient microbes that had been trapped in ice—in some cases for around 40,000 years.
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2025
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A new international study involving researchers from the University of Gothenburg shows that vegetation in the Arctic is changing rapidly as species from nearby forests spread into the tundra. This change is occurring in ...
Ecology
Sep 22, 2025
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Ice can dissolve iron minerals more effectively than liquid water, according to a new study from Umeå University. The discovery could help explain why many Arctic rivers are now turning rusty orange as permafrost thaws in ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 22, 2025
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Permafrost, ground frozen for at least two years underlying the cold Arctic and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, covers about 17% of the global land surface and stores an estimated one-third of the world's soil ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 17, 2025
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A research team led by Prof. Wu Qingbai from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified important non-temperature environmental factors contributing ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 17, 2025
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Scientists may be a step closer to solving the mystery of Siberia's giant exploding craters. First spotted in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas of Western Siberia in 2012, these massive holes, known as giant gas emission craters ...
