Permafrost

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  • Permafrost
definition
  • 1. (Also called perennially frozen ground, pergelisol, permanently frozen ground.) A layer of soil or bedrock at a variable depth beneath the surface of the earth in which the temperature has been below freezing continuously from a few to several thousands of years. Permafrost exists where the summer heating fails to descend to the base of the layer of frozen ground. A continuous stratum of permafrost is found where the annual mean temperature is below about 5C (23F).

    2. As limited in application by P. F. Svetsov, soil that is known to have been frozen for at least a century.

    Muller, S. W., 1947: Permafrost, or Permanently Frozen Ground, and Related Engineering Problems,

    Hare, F. K., 1951: Compendium of Meteorology, p. 958, and map, p. 956.

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Abstract from DBPedia
    Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface is underlain by permafrost, with the total area of around 18 million km2. This includes substantial areas of Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Siberia. It can also be located on mountaintops in the Southern Hemisphere and beneath ice-free areas in the Antarctic. Permafrost does not have to be the first layer that is on the ground. It can be from an inch to several miles deep under the Earth's surface. It frequently occurs in ground ice, but it can also be present in non-porous bedrock. Permafrost is formed from ice holding various types of soil, sand, and rock in combination. Permafrost contains large amounts of biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide, making tundra soil a carbon sink. As global warming heats the ecosystem and causes soil thawing, the permafrost carbon cycle accelerates and releases much of these soil-contained greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a feedback cycle that increases climate change. Thawing of permafrost is one of the effects of climate change. While emissions from thawing permafrost will be significant enough to lead to additional warming, they will likely not be enough to trigger a self-reinforcing feedback leading to "runaway warming".

    永久凍土（えいきゅうとうど、英語: permafrost）とは、2年間以上にわたり継続して温度0℃以下をとる地盤のことである。この用語の定義の上では、氷の存在ではなく温度条件で考える。 英語では、永久凍土のことを permafrost と表記するが、permanently frozen ground（永久に凍った土壌）の省略語で1945年に S. W. MULLERによって使われた。 永久凍土は北半球の大陸の約20%に広がっている。永久凍土の厚さは数百m（アラスカの Prudhoe Bay では650m）にも及ぶこともある。永久凍土の上部には夏の間融けている活動層があり、ポドゾルという酸性の土壌となり、タイガや草原となっている。活動層の厚さは年や場所によって変化するが、典型的なものでは0.6-4mの厚さである。 日本では、富士山頂上付近および大雪山頂上付近、北アルプスの立山などに永久凍土が確認され、槍ヶ岳・穂高連峰の大キレットカール内に存在している可能性が高いと報告されている。

    (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Permafrost)
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