Global Permafrost Layers designed for Science On a Sphere (SOS) and WMS

  • Released Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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Permafrost is permanently frozen ground that remains at or below 0°C for at least two years. The circumpolar permafrost and ground ice data depicts the distribution of permafrost and ground ice in the Northern Hemisphere and shows continuous, discontinuous, sporadic, and isolated permafrost boundaries.

In this image, the lightness of the color is used to designate different regions of permafrost over a transparent background. The four colors represent the following: sporadic permafrost (lightest color), isolated permafrost (2nd lightest color), discondinuous permafrost (2nd darkest color) and continuous permafrost (darkest color).

In this image, the lightness of the color is used to designate different regions of permafrost over a transparent background. The four colors represent the following: sporadic permafrost (lightest color), isolated permafrost (2nd lightest color), discondinuous permafrost (2nd darkest color) and continuous permafrost (darkest color).

Permafrost regions listed above are shown over light green continents in darker shades of lavender while the Greenland ice sheet is shown in light blue.

Permafrost regions listed above are shown over light green continents in darker shades of lavender while the Greenland ice sheet is shown in light blue.

Same as the above, without the background land and ocean.

Same as the above, without the background land and ocean.

All classifications of permafrost shown with a single color on a transparent background.

All classifications of permafrost shown with a single color on a transparent background.

Regions of continuous permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of continuous permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of discontinuous permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of discontinuous permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of isolated permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of isolated permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of sporadic permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

Regions of sporadic permafrost are shown with a transparent background.

The background displays the continents in light green and the ocean in light blue.

The background displays the continents in light green and the ocean in light blue.

The continental areas are shown in light green with a transparent background.

The continental areas are shown in light green with a transparent background.

Ocean areas are shown with a transparent background.

Ocean areas are shown with a transparent background.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
National Snow and Ice Data Center
World Data Center for Glaciology

This page was originally published on Wednesday, May 7, 2008.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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Datasets used

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.