Cessation of ice-wedge development during the 20th century in spruce forests of eastern Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada

Ice wedges are presently inactive in white spruce (Picea glauca) forests of eastern Mackenzie Delta as shown by the absence of vein ice above ice wedges, the maintenance of intact breaking cables, and the abundance of rootlets propagating across ridge–trough sequences. At spruce forest sites, near-surface ground cooling rates and minimum near-surface temperatures from the years 2003–2005 were above ice-wedge cracking thresholds. Ground thermal …