Satellite image of Tukpahlearik Creek caught on July 23, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9, In Alaska, streams are turning orange as permafrost thaws.Scientists are acutely mindful that losing permafrost– the year-round frozen ground common across the Arctic– generally does not bode well for the planets future. As that iron reaches streaming streams, it can become oxygenated, or “rust,” and turn the water orange.This variation of the 1997 permafrost map second map, updated on February 21, 2012, has actually been digitized and simplified to reveal continuous permafrost, discontinuous/sporadic permafrost, separated spots of permafrost, as well as ice sheets and glaciers. Credit: International Permafrost AssociationAnother idea, not equally special to the bacterial process, presumes that water is encountering bedrock rich in sulfide minerals underneath defrosting permafrost, something that has likely not occurred in thousands of years.
