The history of ground ice formation and intra-permafrost fluid flow as documented by Ra and Th isotopes

Rotem, Dotan; Weinstein, Yishai; Harlavan, Yehudit; Torfstein, Adi; Christiansen, Hanne Hvidtfeldt

doi:10.5194/tc-20-5303-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5303-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5303-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

21 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 21 Sep 2026

The history of ground ice formation and intra-permafrost fluid flow as documented by Ra and Th isotopes

Dotan Rotem, Yishai Weinstein, Yehudit Harlavan, Adi Torfstein, and Hanne Hvidtfeldt Christiansen

Data sets

Tables for article The history of ground ice formation and intra-permafrost fluid flow as documented by Ra and Th isotopes Dotan Rotem https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30959015.v3

Short summary

We investigated the residence time of ground ice in the Svalbard permafrost. Marked variations in salinity and the chemical composition were found in three proximal cores. Radioactive Ra and Th isotopes suggest that while some ice has a residence time of several thousands years, the more saline samples show lower long-to-short-lived Ra ratios, implying a residence time under 100 years. This indicates active within-permafrost flow, which highlights the system's resilience to global warming.