This $1,039,772 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) supports research by the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) to study the impacts of warming saline permafrost in the Arctic. The key research objectives are to: 1) Analyze the spatial distribution and properties of saline permafrost, 2) Assess how ice wedge formation and thaw have influenced near-surface saline permafrost, and 3) Determine the response of warming saline permafrost under shallow thermokarst lakes. The research will combine field studies, laboratory soil testing, geophysical measurements, sensor networks, and remote sensing to establish quantitative relationships between salinity, permafrost characteristics, and Arctic landscape change processes. This project will advance fundamental permafrost science, contribute to understanding permafrost evolution in a warming Arctic, and provide a basis for predicting climate change impacts on permafrost terrain. UAF will collaborate with Iḷisaġvik College and the University of Wyoming on this multi-year project starting in September 2024.