Opportunities to Use Remote Sensing in Understanding Permafrost and Related Ecological CharacteristicsOpportunities to Use Remote Sensing in Understanding Permafrost and Related Ecological Characteristics Permafrost is a thermal conditionits formation, persistence and disappearance are highly dependent on climate. General circulation models predict that, for a doubling of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, mean annual air temperatures may rise up to several degrees over much of the Arctic. In the discontinuous permafrost region, where