MetaFilter posts tagged with permafrost

Our future is guarded by polar bears

blahblahblah — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:25:10 -0800

The last hope of life on earth: Svalbard. Most of humanity depends on just 12 plant species, down from over 7,000 historically. Fortunately, seeds can be viable for up to thousands of years, and seed banks have already preserved many species, including the entire plant population of Antarctica. But with seed banks being destroyed as the result of wars and accident, Norway has has begun work on an underground facility, protected by polar bears, in the Arctic permafrost that is designed to hold millions of seeds, as "final safety net" for humanity.

Permafrost - n. Ground that is permanently frozen.

mosch — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:33:41 -0800

Siberia's permafrost is melting. New Scientist reports that 250 million acres of permafrost are thawing, exposing the world's largest peat bog. This is likely to release billions of tons of methane gas. This would likely cause a positive feedback loop, massively accelerating global warming.

AK's got a real cool tunnel.

breezeway — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 09:28:03 -0800

The U.S. Army Permafrost Tunnel provides researchers a unique opportunity to study the composition and behavior of ice structures, ice-saturated soils and frozen bioorganics dating over 40,000 years before present.