Industrial waste lurks in thousands of sites in the Arctic permafrost regions – some of it is highly toxic. If the permafrost thaws increasingly deeper due to the massive warming of the Arctic deeper and [...] is part of the joint project "ThinIce" (Thawing industrial legacies in the Arctic - a threat to permafrost ecosystems), which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with 1.9

Arctic permafrost stores massive amounts of organic carbon in its frozen soils and deeper deposits. However, as the Arctic warms particularly rapidly, these deposits are thawing out. As a result, more [...] gases will be released into the atmosphere. There has been little research on where and how quickly permafrost thaws, as well as on the processes that cause the rapid thaw. PeTCaT (Rapid Pe rmafrost T haw Ca [...] to make projections about the possible developments and impacts of greenhouse gases from thawing permafrost. The project is funded by the non-profit organisation Schmidt Sciences.

the permafrost – with a host of grave consequences. Typical permafrost landscape in Yukon, Canada (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) What does permafrost look like? Some landscapes in the permafrost regions [...] Can permafrost only be found on land? How deep does the permafrost go? To what depth does it thaw in summer? Why is thawing permafrost important for the climate? How much carbon does the permafrost contain [...] How fast is the permafrost thawing? Why are permafrost coasts increasingly collapsing? How is the thawing permafrost affecting people living in these regions? How is the thawing permafrost affecting economies

Forever frozen? Permafrost in the Arctic In story 1 students receive basic knowledge about permafrost and the consequences of climate change for permafrost. The importance of permafrost research is explained [...] changed in the Arctic over the last decades? What is permafrost? How does thawing permafrost affect the Arctic environment? How does thawing permafrost affect Arctic infrastructure? The main goal of this [...] and learn about permafrost in the Arctic and the effect of degrading permafrost on the Arctic environment. The focus lies on the complex interactions between men, nature and permafrost and resulting conflicts

connected with several international networks: International Permafrost Association (IPA) Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) Association of Polar Early [...] 16th DACH Permafrost Conference 21–24 January 2026 | HVHS am Seddiner See, near Potsdam, Germany We are pleased to invite you to the 16th DACH Permafrost Conference , taking place from 21 to 24 January [...] researchers to senior scientists. Conference Background The DACH Permafrost Conference began 17 years ago as a meeting for German-speaking permafrost researchers and has since evolved into a fully international

Putting permafrost in the classroom The Arctic’s permanently frozen soils are increasingly thawing – with far-reaching consequences for the climate and for people living in the region. Together with partner [...] schoolchildren from Aklavik, Canada are helping the Alfred Wegener Institute gather valuable data on permafrost. By doing so, they’re improving the joint understanding of the changes at work on their doorstep [...] has consequences for the day-to-day lives of the roughly five million people who live atop the permafrost. Entire sections of coastline are washed away by the sea, while elsewhere the ground collapses

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