A video is available from Alexiane Agullo: alexiane.agullo@cnrs.fr
1. The researchers used the GEOPS (CNRS / Université Paris-Saclay) cold room, which is dedicated to physical modelling of periglacial geomorphological phenomena. They recreated an ice-rich Arctic permafrost, weighing over a ton, by freezing sand and integrating ice heterogeneities. Their experiments made use of temperature sensors to study changes in the freezing and thawing front over time.
2. Each winter the soil contracts to leave cracks that fill up with water in the summer, and this water freezes to form ice wedges. The cycle continues from season to season, adding further mass to the ice wedges.
Retrogressive thaw slumps on ice-rich permafrost under degradation:Results from a large-scale laboratory simulation. F. Costard, L. Dupeyrat, A. Séjourné, F. Bouchard, A. Fedorov, and B. Saint Bézar. December 7, 2020, Geophysical Research Letters. DOI : 10.1029/2020GL091070. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020GL091070