Pingo

For other uses, see Pingo (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Pingu.
Ibyuk pingo near Tuktoyaktuk, northern Canada
View from top of a pingo towards another, within a partly drained lake, the Arctic Ocean in the background (near Tuktoyaktuk). July 20, 1975.

Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills, 3–70 m (10–230 ft) high and 30–1,000 m (98–3,281 ft) in diameter.[1] They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic.[2] A pingo is a periglacial landform, which is defined as a non-glacial landform or process linked to colder climates.[3] It is estimated that there are more than 11,000 pingos on Earth,[4] with the Tuktoyaktuk peninsula area having the greatest concentration at a total of 1,350.[5] There is currently remarkably limited data on pingos.[5]

  1. ^ Pidwirny, M (2006). "Periglacial Processes and Landforms". Fundamentals of Physical Geography.
  2. ^ Mackay, J. Ross (2 October 2002). "Pingo Growth and collapse, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Area, Western Arctic Coast, Canada: a long-term field study". Géographie Physique et Quaternaire. 52 (3): 271–323. doi:10.7202/004847ar. ISSN 1492-143X.
  3. ^ Harris, Stuart A. (1988). Glossary of permafrost and related ground-ice terms. ISBN 0-660-12540-4. OCLC 20504505.
  4. ^ Grosse, G.; Jones, B.M. (2011). "Spatial distribution of pingos in northern Asia". The Cryosphere. 5 (1): 13–33. Bibcode:2011TCry....5...13G. doi:10.5194/tc-5-13-2011.
  5. ^ a b Mackay, J. Ross (1998). "Pingo Growth and Collapse, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Area, Western Arctic Coast, Canada: A Long-Term Field Study" (PDF). Géographie Physique et Quaternaire. 52 (3). University of Montreal: 311. doi:10.7202/004847ar. Retrieved 23 June 2012.