Cryosphere glossary
ice-bearing permafrost in which some of the soil particles are not held together by ice.
special design and construction methods used for engineering works in permafrost areas where preservation of the frozen condition is feasible.
a foundation pile provided with a single-phase natural convection cooling system to remove heat from the ground.
a foundation pile provided with a two-phase natural convection cooling system to remove heat from the ground.
predominant characteristic of the weather which had existed at an observing station during a given period of time (during the preceding hour or six hours), specified in the international synop code.
a collection of pack ice, less than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) across, whose limits can be seen from the masthead.
a general term for any ground surface exhibiting a discernibly ordered, more or less symmetrical, morphological pattern of ground and, where present, vegetation.
Image
A photograph taken from the air reveals patterned ground surrounding thaw lakes in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
a generally flat-topped expanse of peat, elevated above the general surface of a peatland, and containing segregated ice that may or may not extend downward into the underlying mineral soil.
the extreme relief of ablation hollows found most often at high altitudes in the tropics; the resulting spikes of snow resemble repentant souls.
a layer of frozen ground which forms as part of the seasonally frozen ground (in areas free of permafrost or with a lowered permafrost table); remains frozen throughout one or several summers, and then thaws.
an artificial mixture of frozen soil materials cemented by pore ice, which forms a concrete-like construction material used in cold regions.
layer of soil or rock, at some depth beneath the surface, in which the temperature has been continuously below 0°C for at least several years; it exists where summer heating fails to reach the base of the layer of frozen ground.
a naturally or artificially caused increase in the thickness and/or areal extent of permafrost.