Mass-Movements in Cold and Polar Climates

Mass-movements in cold and Polar climates often involve permafrost and ice and hence these two phenomena are recurring themes throughout this chapter. We consider specifically mass movements in glacial, periglacial and paraglacial settings. For each environmental setting we describe the types of mass movement that have been documented in the literature, describing the current research foci and remaining challenges. We specifically highlight that mass-movements in cold and Polar climates are particularly sensitive to climate change, because of the involvement of permafrost and ice in their triggering and dynamics and therefore we may anticipate an increasing frequency and increased hazard from these phenomena in the future in response to unprecedented rates of environmental change.