Permafrost Title Card for the Arctic

Title card for the Arctic Permafrost goal.  This shows trees tripping over due to permafrost in the Arctic.

Permafrost contains twice the carbon currently found in the atmosphere. It underlies much of boreal and Arctic regions, defining the landscapes that support diverse ecosystems, wildlife, human settlements, and infrastructure. Thawing of permafrost soils in the Arctic is expected to become widespread over the coming decades, driven by climate warming and disturbance events such as wildfire. Permafrost thaw changes ecosystem structure and function, affects resource availability for wildlife and society, alters hydrologic processes, and decreases ground stability which affects human infrastructure and communities. The thawing of ice-rich soils in permafrost landscapes can result in profound impacts on the energy and water balance, carbon fluxes, wildlife habitat, and existing infrastructure. The USGS has also mapped the extent of remaining subsea permafrost on the U.S. Arctic Ocean margin. Subsea permafrost beneath the continental shelf may co-exist with methane hydrate formed when the shelf was subaerial prior to the end of the last glaciation.