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Nature 424, 712 (14 August 2003) | doi:10.1038/424712a
Alpine thaw breaks ice over permafrost's role
Quirin Schiermeier
As Europe swelters in one of its hottest summers since records began, the heat is making itself felt in the high Alps, where thawing ice is destabilizing landscapes that are normally frozen.Researchers who study permafrost say that the patterns of disruption being seen in the Alps right now could soon be replicated on a larger scale, with global warming eroding the quarter of the Earth's land surface that is permanently frozen.
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