What is permafrost?

Permafrost is like a giant ice cake that stays frozen all year long under the ground.

Permafrost means perma- (which means forever) and frost (which is ice). So it's ground that has been frozen for a very, very long time, sometimes thousands of years!

Imagine you have an ice cream sandwich. You put it in the freezer, and it stays cold no matter how hot it gets outside. Permafrost is like that ice cream sandwich under the ground.

In places with permafrost, like Alaska or Siberia, the ground is frozen all year round, even during summer! It's like having a giant ice cake buried deep inside the Earth, keeping everything around it chilly.

If the weather gets warmer for a long time, the ice in the permafrost can start to melt. That’s like taking your ice cream sandwich out of the freezer, it starts to get soft and squishy. This melting ground can make things wobbly or even sink, just like how an ice cream sandwich might look messy if it melts too much!