a dimensionless ratio describing the relationship between the rate of thaw and the rate of consolidation of a thawing soil, which is considered to be a measure of the relative rates of generation and expulsion of excess water during thaw.
a boundary sometimes identified in perennially frozen ground, representing the base of a relict active layer, as well as the corresponding earlier permafrost table.
the reduction in shear strength due to the decrease in effective stresses resulting from the generation and slow dissipation of excess pore pressures when frozen soils containing ice are thawing.
perennially frozen ground which, upon thawing, will experience significant thaw settlement and suffer loss of strength to a value significantly lower than that for similar material in an unfrozen condition.
a layer or body of unfrozen ground (in a permafrost area) in which the temperature is above 0 degrees Celsius due to the local thermal regime of the ground.
the thickness at which ice no longer grows because it is so thick that heat from the ocean can no longer be conducted through the ice; it may take several years of growth and melt for ice to reach an equilibrium thickness.
study of the links between heat and energy. First law of thermodynamics states that heat is energy and the amount of energy within a system cannot change.