npr:
For the first time in centuries, the Arctic permafrost is beginning to change — rapidly. It’s warming up. Some places are softening like a stick of butter left out on the kitchen counter.
In northern Alaska, the temperature at some permafrost sites has risen by more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1980s, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in November. And in recent years, many spots have reached record temperatures.
“Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decades,” NOAA wrote in its annual Arctic Report Card last year.
The consequences of this warming could have ripple effects around the world.
Photo: Kate Ramsayer/NASA
Caption: The Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility, dug in the mid-1960s, allows scientists a three-dimensional look at frozen ground.
