A cold, treeless region in the far north where the ground is permanently frozen just below the surface.
From Russian *tundra*, from Kildin Sami *tūndâr* “treeless mountain tract.” It entered English in the 18th century as explorers described Arctic landscapes.
The tundra looks empty, but it’s a huge, fragile carpet of mosses and low plants stretched over frozen ground called permafrost. As the climate warms and that frozen layer melts, the tundra can release stored greenhouse gases, quietly feeding more warming.
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