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.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere vary naturally between ice ages and interglacial periods. A new study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg shows that an unexpectedly large proportion of carbon dioxide emissions ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 29, 2025
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Throughout the first half of 2020, average monthly temperatures in Siberia reached 6°C above the norm. The situation climaxed on 20 June, when the temperature in the town of Verkhoyansk climbed to 38°C (100.4°F), the highest ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 25, 2025
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74
Thawing permafrost is a major climate risk due to the associated release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, new research by a team led by Prof. Yang Yuanhe from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2025
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One of the defining features of an arctic environment is permafrost, which covers almost 10% of Earth's surface and remains entirely frozen year round. With temperatures reaching more extreme levels more frequently, the U.S. ...
Environment
Aug 12, 2025
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A new commentary published in Nature Communications by Dr. James Bradley, Reader in Environmental Science at Queen Mary University of London, and his team reveals a dramatic and concerning shift in the Arctic winter.
Environment
Jul 21, 2025
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Scientists have found evidence that the Asian continent was free of permafrost all the way to its northerly coast with the Arctic Ocean when Earth's average temperature was 4.5˚C warmer than today, suggesting that the whole ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 3, 2025
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251
The permafrost in Switzerland's Alps is the warmest since records began, the Swiss Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday.
Environment
Jun 18, 2025
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The Arctic is warming almost four times faster than the rest of the planet. High temperatures are already causing the permanently frozen ground, known as permafrost, to thaw. The carbon contained in this soil is then released ...
Earth Sciences
May 26, 2025
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Climate change is melting glaciers and permafrost in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado, exposing rocks and freeing up minerals containing sulfate, a form of sulfur, to flow downstream into local watersheds.
Earth Sciences
May 16, 2025
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119
In the vast white expanse around Churapcha in eastern Siberia, the ever more rapid thaw of the permafrost is changing the landscape, cracking up houses and releasing greenhouse gases.
Environment
Apr 30, 2025
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