A regional permafrost map can’t tell a builder if a particular foundation or road will survive as temperatures rise. Engineers need to see beneath the surface to find the weaknesses.
Articles on Thawing permafrost
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Permafrost holds an extraordinary molecular record of ancient life — and we are only now learning to read it, just as warming begins to erase it.
Permafrost supports homes and communities across Northern Canada. However, as the climate warms, melting permafrost poses significant challenges for infrastructure.
Suicide Basin, an ice-dammed lake on an arm of Mendenhall Glacier, has filled up with meltwater and sent destructive surges of water into Juneau for 3 straight summers.
We wanted to find out how much carbon and nitrogen is being released from the northern permafrost. Here’s the region’s first full greenhouse gas budget covering CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide.
The early heat melted snow and warmed rivers, heating up the land and downstream ocean areas. The effects harmed salmon fisheries, melted sea ice and fueled widespread fires.
Thawing permafrost in the far north is an inviting prospect for invertebrate burrowers.
Back when there were Arctic alligators and turtles, ‘polar stratospheric clouds’ kept their world warm. Research suggests these clouds contribute to the ‘missing warming’ in climate models.
While a seemingly remote and unfamiliar landscape, the Arctic shares many surprising similarities with contemporary Canadian cityscapes.
Large stretches of the Arctic are carbon-rich peat bogs. As the region warms and dries, lightning strikes can spark underground fires that can burn for years.
A recent paper suggested damaging climate tipping points could be closer than first thought.
Alaska is warming faster than any other U.S. state, and that’s causing problems, a team of bridge engineers and social scientists explains. The infrastructure bill in Congress would offer some help.
Australia must treble its emissions reduction targets and reach net-zero emissions by 2035. Without this and other radical global action, the chance to hold warming to well below 2°C will pass us by.
New research shows that permafrost contains huge amounts of particles that make it easier for cloud moisture to freeze. Thawing permafrost is releasing these ice-nucleating particles.
Top contributors
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Professor of Anthropology and Biochemistry and the Micheal G. DeGroote Chair in Genetic Anthropology, McMaster University
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PhD Candidate, Simon Fraser University
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Scientist, Ancient DNA Lab (Biodiversity Genomics division) at the Hakai Institute and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology, McMaster University
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Paleogenetics, Stockholm University
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Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
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Senior Lecturer in Atmospheric Science, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW
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PhD Student and Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University
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Professor and Canada Research Chair, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University
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Deputy Lead Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder
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Provost Professor of Geography, Indiana University
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Simon Fraser University
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Senior Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder
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Reader in Ecology, University of Lancashire
