Pingos and polygons
Pingos are ice-cored hills, 3–50 m (10–165 ft) high and 30–1,000 m (98–3,281 ft) in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic. The Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula is an area with a marine tundra environment on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with the greatest concentration of pingos in the world. In the foreground, you can see ice-wedge polygons. In winter the cold causes frozen soil to shrink, and cracks form (similar to drying mud). In spring meltwater seeps down into the cracks. It freezes and expands when the still-frozen soil chills it. The frozen water forms wedges of ice in the soil. The ice wedges tend to increase in size year after year. When ice wedges connect, they can form tundra polygons. These polygons are most striking when viewed from the air.
Pingos and polygons
Pingos are ice-cored hills, 3–50 m (10–165 ft) high and 30–1,000 m (98–3,281 ft) in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic. The Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula is an area with a marine tundra environment on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with the greatest concentration of pingos in the world. In the foreground, you can see ice-wedge polygons. In winter the cold causes frozen soil to shrink, and cracks form (similar to drying mud). In spring meltwater seeps down into the cracks. It freezes and expands when the still-frozen soil chills it. The frozen water forms wedges of ice in the soil. The ice wedges tend to increase in size year after year. When ice wedges connect, they can form tundra polygons. These polygons are most striking when viewed from the air.