Going back in time
After crossing through the ice crystal room, a small interior room covered with hoar frost, ice that forms from an abundance of water vapor in the air, we enter the cold, dusty, tunnel of darkness. This tunnel is a treasure to anyone who enters. As you descend down the metal ramp, you begin to enter another world. The walls tell a story of animals, plants, and microbes that lived over 10.000 years ago. This frozen time capsule is filled with artifacts jutting out of the walls from bison or mastodon bones to roots and logs. Along the path, you begin to understand the frozen processes that occur under the surface of the land.
A view of the tunnel
Professor Matt Nolan from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks created a 360° panorama of the tunnel. "In this panorama you can see the fine, silty soil that coats all the tunnel surfaces and several examples of ice wedges in the walls and the ceiling. To explore the tunnel, left-click on your mouse and navigate around the image."
Cold Region Research and Engineering Laboratory Permafrost Tunnel
Beautiful crystals form in the entrance to the permafrost tunnel
The walkway underground is made of a metal ramp to keep the silt dust from rising.
Red ice algae was found in an ice wedge in the tunnel
PolarTREC teacher, Juan Botella, created a video of the the permafrost tunnel. http://
A clear view of Denali from Fairbanks