Permafrost Glossary

The layer of ground subject to annual thawing and freezing in areas underlain by permafrost

Shallow landslides that develop in permafrost areas, involving reduction in effective stress and strength at the contact between a thawing overburden and underlying frozen material. Active-layer detachment slides can occur in response to high seasonal air temperature, summer rainfall events, rapid melting of snowcover, or surface disturbances See Lewkowicz (1992).

The thickness of the layer of ground subject to annual thawing and freezing in areas underlain by permafrost (cf. thaw depth) See Nelson and Hinkel (2003).

A large depression of the ground surface produced by thawing of a large area (e.g., > 1 ha) of very thick and exceedingly ice-rich permafrost.

• A collective term used to describe all soil movements due to frost action.
• Irregular structures formed in earth materials by frost penetration and frost action processes, and characterized by folded, broken, and dislocated beds and lenses of unconsolidated deposits, included organic horizons, or bedrock.

   

A derived unit of measurement used to express the departure of the mean temperature for a day from a given reference temperature. Also see freezing index and thawing index.

The distance from the ground surface downward to the level beneath which there is practically no annual fluctuation in ground temperature.

The volume of ice in the ground that exceeds the total pore volume that the ground would have under natural unfrozen conditions.

Freezing of material, followed by thawing. The two fundamental frequencies involved are diurnal and annual.

The cumulative number of degree-days below 0oC for a given time period (usually seasonal).

The process of alternate freezing and thawing of moisture in soil, rock, and other materials, and the resulting effects on materials and on structures placed on or in the ground.

The net downslope displacement that occurs when a soil, during a freeze-thaw cycle, expands perpendicular to the ground surface and settles in a nearly vertical direction.

The upward or outward movement of the ground surface (or objects on or in the ground) caused by the formation of ice in the soil.

Any mound-shaped landform produced by ground freezing, combined with accumulation of ground ice due to groundwater movement or migration of soil moisture. Also see Nelson et al. (1992).

The movement of a freezing front into the ground during freezing.

Subsurface earth materials in which segregated ice will form (causing frost heave) under the required conditions of moisture supply and temperature.

Soil or rock in which part or all of the pore water has turned into ice.

A special form of solid clathrate compound in which crystal lattice cages or chambers, consisting of host molecules, enclose guest molecules.

The slow downslope flow of unfrozen earth materials over a frozen substrate. Also see solifluction.

The study of earth materials and processes involving temperatures of 0oC or below.

The rate of temperature increase with depth below the ground surface.

A general term referring to all types of ice contained in freezing and frozen ground.

An ice-wedge polygon in which melting of the surrounding ice wedges has left the central area in a relatively elevated position.

A dominantly horizontal, lens-shaped body of ice of any dimension.

The formation of discrete layers or lenses of segregated ice in freezing mineral or organic soils, as a result of the migration and subsequent freezing of pore water.

A massive, generally wedge-shaped body with its apex pointing downward, composed of foliated or vertically banded, commonly white, ice.

A network of ice wedges defining the boundaries of a geometric polygon in plan view.

Ice formed from water injected into soils or rocks.

The amount of heat required to melt all ice (or freeze all pore water) in a unit mass of soil or rock. For pure water this quantity is 334 J g-1.

An ice-wedge polygon in which thawing of ice-rich permafrost has left the central area in a relatively depressed position.

Downslope movement of soil or rock on or near the earth?s surface under the influence of gravity.

A comprehensive term used to describe large masses of ground ice, including ice wedges, pingo ice, buried ice, and large ice lenses.

Mean annual temperature of the air, measured at standard screen height above the ground surface.

Mean annual temperature at the surface of the ground.

Mean annual temperature of the ground at a specified depth.

The ratio of the freezing or thawing index at the ground surface to that derived from air temperature records.

Permafrost mounds ranging from about 0.5 to about 10 m in height and exceeding about 2 m in average diameter, comprising (1) aggradation forms and (2) degradation forms. The term ?palsa? is a descriptive term to which an adjectival modifier prefix can be attached to indicate formative processes. See Washburn (1983) and Nelson et al. (1992).

A general term for any ground surface exhibiting a discernibly ordered, more or less symmetrical, morphological pattern of ground and, where present, vegetation.

The conditions, processes, and landforms associated with cold, nonglacial environments, regardless of proximity to past or present glaciers.

Earth materials that remains continuously at or below 0oC for at least two consecutive years.

Regions in which permafrost occurs nearly everywhere beneath the exposed land surface. At the circumpolar scale the term continuous permafrost zone refers to a broad area, crudely conformable with latitude, in which permafrost is laterally continuous. See Nelson and Outcalt (1987).

Regions in which permafrost is laterally discontinuous owing to heterogeneity of material properties, subsurface water, and surface cover.

Permafrost containing neither free water nor ice.

Permafrost containing excess ice.

A perennial frost mound consisting of a core of massive ice produced primarily by injection of water, and covered with soil and vegetation.

A slope failure resulting from thawing if ice-rich permafrost.

Ground that freezes and thaws annually.

A general term referring to the slow downslope flow of saturated unfrozen earth materials over an impermeable substrate (cf. gelifluction).

Time-dependent compression resulting from thawing of ice-rich frozen ground and subsequent draining of excess water.

The instantaneous depth below the ground surface to which seasonal thaw has penetrated (cf. active-layer thickness). See Nelson and Hinkel (2003).

A lake whose basin was formed or enlarged by thawing of frozen ground. Hopkins (1949), Washburn (1980, 271).

Compression of the ground due to loss of excess ground ice and attendant thaw consolidation.

The cumulative number of degree-days above 0oC for given time period (usually seasonal).

The quantity of heat that will flow through a unit area of a substance in unit time under a unit temperature gradient. In permafrost investigations thermal conductivity is usually expressed in W m-1 oC-1

Erosion of ice-bearing permafrost by the combined thermal and mechanical action of moving water.

Temperature depression in the upper layer of permafrost, resulting from the combined effects of seasonal differences of thermal conductivity and the operation of nonconductive processes in the active layer. See Williams and Smith (1989) and Nelson et al. (1985). See Goodrich (1982).

Irregular topography resulting from the melting of excess ground ice and subsequent thaw settlement.

Persistence of a nearly constant temperature very close to the freezing point of water during annual freezing (and occasionally thawing) of the active layer. See Outcalt et al. (1990).