PERMAFROST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does permafrost mean? 

• PERMAFROST (noun)
  The noun PERMAFROST has 1 sense:

1. ground that is permanently frozen

  Familiarity information: PERMAFROST used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERMAFROST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ground that is permanently frozen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("permafrost" is a kind of...):

ground; land; soil (material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use))

 Context examples 

According to the model, as the southern Arctic grows warmer, increased photosynthesis will balance increased permafrost emissions until the late 2100s.

(Far Northern Permafrost May Unleash Carbon Within Decades, NASA)

These lakes are being fertilized by thawing yedoma permafrost.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

But climate change has brought warmer and longer summers throughout the Arctic, and permafrost soils are thawing more and more.

(Alaska Shows No Signs of Rising Arctic Methane, NASA)

DNA recovered from ancient biological material (e.g., archaeological and historical skeletal material, mummified tissues, preserved plant remains, ice and permafrost cores).

(Ancient DNA, NCI Thesaurus)

Over the course of the model simulations, northern permafrost lost about five times more carbon per century than southern permafrost.

(Far Northern Permafrost May Unleash Carbon Within Decades, NASA)

Yedoma is a type of permafrost that is rich in organic material.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

Vast amounts of carbon are stored in undecayed organic matter — dead plants and animals — in Arctic permafrost and peat.

(Alaska Shows No Signs of Rising Arctic Methane, NASA)

There is far more permafrost in the northern region than in the southern one.

(Far Northern Permafrost May Unleash Carbon Within Decades, NASA)

Researchers note that the new carbon storage is not forever, since future warming will likely start re-thawing some of the permafrost and release some of the carbon in it via microbial decomposition.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

Permafrost is soil that has remained frozen for years or centuries under topsoil.

(Far Northern Permafrost May Unleash Carbon Within Decades, NASA)