Permafrost thaws and can result in unstable ground conditions. This can lead to collapsing industrial plants and environmental toxins leaking into vulnerable nature.
Smelting av is i permafrostområder fører til raske endringer i landskapet – termokarst. Det kan igjen bety raskere tining av permafrosten.
Recently, a Danish-Norwegian research team re-processed thousands of aerial photos into 3D Digital Elevation Models (DEM) surrounding the entire coastline of Greenland. The new data extends the precise geometric record of Greenland glacier margins to the late 1970s and 80s and can be used to quantify the decline in the ice mass, for example. The data is freely available to the public domain.
Satellite data from IceSat (NASA) provide new knowledge about the glaciers of the world's highest mountains. Findings in a paper published in Nature shows that Himalayan glaciers does not melt faster than other ice glaciers.