As Most Of Alaskan Interior's Permafrost Temps Reach 30 - 31F, Ground Begins Shift - FNM

[hatrack]

EDIT

According to Romanovsky, most of the permafrost in Interior Alaska is already near that threshold. It’s 30 or 31 degrees.

In general, permafrost exists in places where the annual average temperature is below freezing. But other factors also play a role. Mosses and plant matter help maintain permafrost by insulating the ground from warm air in the summer, and snowcover can actually degrade it by insulating the ground from cold air in the winter. The mean annual air temperature in Fairbanks is 27 or 28 degrees — at least 4 degrees below the temperature theoretically needed for permafrost. But the insulating snowcover has brought the frozen ground much closer to its tipping point.

At this site, the permafrost is both warming and thawing from the top down. Agricultural researchers cleared the area in the late 1930s, cutting down black spruce and removing any mosses that had built up. In the 70 years since, the permafrost has thawed down about 35 feet. In places nearby that weren’t cleared, the permafrost is still only a few feet down.

But if the ground is changing here because of human disturbance, it’s changing in other places simply because the air is getting warmer. From sites in Barrow, along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, and in other places, scientists have documented an increase in the temperature of permafrost in Alaska of 2 to 5 degrees in the last 30 years. Records in Barrow show the permafrost was actually cooling in the 1950s and ’60s,when air temperatures were cooler, and started warming in the mid-’70s, when temperatures rose.

EDIT

http://newsminer.com/news/2008/jul/30/melting-permafrost-poses-threats-infrastructure-al/

[Maestro]

1. and just think of all the methane that is contained in the permafrost

too which will further exacerbate global warming!

[kestrel91316]

2. We are on the brink of the abyss.

[phantom power]

3. Something about 32F...

it's on the tip of my tongue.

[hatrack]

4. Yeah, I remember that . . . is it "Eat oysters only in months that have an "R" in them"?

Or was it "Multiply by 3.14159"?

Damnit, it's definitely something.

[phantom power]

5. i before e, except in the complex plain when they're orthogonal.

[hatrack]

6. Except on Tuesday, when you would have a Royal Fizbin . .

And the odds of a Royal Fizbin have never been accurately calculated.

[GliderGuider]

7. Oh God, you are one sick puppy!

:rofl:

An airplane leaving from Poland wound up in a storm over the North Atlantic. Everyone was terrified, as the plane was pitching and yawing, and the crew feared that it would break up at any moment. But one young student stood up and called to the passengers, on the right aisle to move across the aisle. The passengers were dubious but the student insisted. “Hurry,” he said. “Our lives depend upon it.”

The passengers complied and the shaking stopped. The plane righted itself, and made its way safely to its destination. Why do you think the student’s plan worked?

Because you need all the Poles on the left side of the plane for stability.

[phantom power]

8. LOL! OK, one more...

You have reached an imaginary number: please rotate your telephone 90 degrees and try again.

[XemaSab]

9. K&R for the Palouse Earthworm!

:patriot:

[DCKit]

10. This is series!1!11 Nock it of!!1!! mt

[tinrobot]

11. Anyone figuring out how to do methane sequestration?

We're gonna need it.

[XemaSab]

13. I've got a method figured out

for ethanol sequestration.... :beer:

[Liberty Belle]

12. I saw this last year; they call them "drunken forests" where trees lean as permafrost melts.

[XemaSab]

14. They're also called "crazy trees"

Eventually the trees lose their geotropic sense and grow every which way. :crazy:

[progressoid]

15. Like this...

[progressoid]

16. this is only going to get worse.