Cryosphere glossary
perennially frozen ground which, upon thawing, will not experience either significant thaw settlement or loss of strength.
melting of the ice in frozen ground, usually as a result of a rise in temperature.
an optical instrument used to visually track a radiosonde balloon and determine its bearing and elevation while in flight.
the quantity of heat that will flow through a unit area of a substance in unit time under a unit temperature gradient.
the erosion of ice-bearing permafrost by the combined thermal and mechanical action of moving water.
the volume change per unit volume of a substance due to a one degree change in its temperature.
a foundation pile on which natural convection or forced circulation cooling systems or devices have been installed to remove heat from the ground.
the properties of the ground governing the flow of heat through it, and its freezing and thawing conditions.
a general term encompassing the temperature distribution and heat flows in the ground and their time-dependence.
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.
a recess at the base of a river bank or coastal bluff, produced by thermal erosion of ice-bonded permafrost.
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.