Word: permafrost
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...astrobiologists, who speculate about life beyond Earth, have long assumed that liquid water is a minimum requirement for existence. But if that water can range from frigid to boiling, and if burial underground isn't a problem, then it's not crazy to think that life exists in the permafrost beneath the surface of Mars, or in the ice-capped ocean that may encircle Jupiter's moon Europa, or in the seas that may exist on Saturn's moon Titan. Indeed, NASA considers extremophiles so relevant to its search for life in the universe that in 1997 it created...
...Kilimanjaro, are disappearing from mountaintops around the globe. Coral reefs are dying off as the seas get too warm for comfort. Drought is the norm in parts of Asia and Africa. El Niño events, which trigger devastating weather in the eastern Pacific, are more frequent. The Arctic permafrost is starting to melt. Lakes and rivers in colder climates are freezing later and thawing earlier each year. Plants and animals are shifting their ranges poleward and to higher altitudes, and migration patterns for animals as diverse as polar bears and beluga whales are disrupted...
...snows of Kilimanjaro, are disappearing from mountaintops around the globe. Coral reefs are dying off as the seas get too warm for comfort. Drought is the norm in parts of Asia and Africa. El Nino events, which trigger devastating weather in the eastern Pacific, are more frequent. The Arctic permafrost is starting to melt. Lakes and rivers in colder climates are freezing later and thawing earlier each year. Plants and animals are shifting their ranges poleward and to higher altitudes, and migration patterns for animals as diverse as polar bears, butterflies and beluga whales are being disrupted...
Even if temperatures rise only moderately, some scientists fear, the climate would reach a "tipping point"--a point at which even a tiny additional increase would throw the system into violent change. If peat bogs and Arctic permafrost warm enough to start releasing the methane stored within them, for example, that potent greenhouse gas would suddenly accelerate the heat-trapping process...
...Even if temperatures rise only moderately, some scientists fear, the climate would reach a "tipping point"?a point at which even a tiny additional increase would throw the system into violent change. If peat bogs and Arctic permafrost warm enough to start releasing the methane stored within them, for example, that potent greenhouse gas would suddenly accelerate the heat-trapping process...