Lachenbruch was an expert in permafrost, the rock-like layer of frozen soil just below the thin, insulated cover of soil and vegetation. In December 1970, he released a study in which he explained ...

Permafrost—ground that remains frozen year-round—is capped by a few feet of dirt and plant detritus. Called the active layer, this soil normally thaws each summer and refreezes in winter ...

Core samples had been taken from just the top three metres of permafrost. The study instead analysed mercury in sediments in riverbanks and sandbars, tapping into deeper soil layers. It found that ...

“It’s fast and dramatic, affecting landscapes in unprecedented ways,” Turetsky said. Permafrost, a perpetually frozen layer under the ground surface, contains rocks, soil, sand and, in some cases, ...

Previous studies used core samples from the top few metres of permafrost to estimate mercury ... sandbars which allowed them to tap into deeper soil layers. This method offers a more accurate ...

According to this, the thawing of the permafrost would lower the water table and allow water to drain away more easily, causing the soil to dry out in the long term. MPI-M researcher Philipp de ...