Brendan O’Neill
@permafrostee.bsky.social
Permafrost Research Scientist - PhD. Ground ice and effects of climate change. Also like bikes, EVs, and making cities better🌳 🚲. UVic and Carleton U Alum. Long Covid - almost rebuilt 🤖👁️🧠🦾🦿. слава україні ! 🇺🇦
A little zoom, enhance on some cool Permafrost landforms (nets) on Devon Island from Mavic 3E imagery. The borders of the polygons are wetter and so stuff grows there making them pop in the photos.
November 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
A little zoom, enhance on some cool Permafrost landforms (nets) on Devon Island from Mavic 3E imagery. The borders of the polygons are wetter and so stuff grows there making them pop in the photos.
The disturbance from wild 🔥🔥 changes the surface energy balance and leads to permafrost thaw. Here is some real data visualised of one year of thawing and subsidence from a peatland site near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, burned in the 2023 fires. Lateral thaw > top down
November 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The disturbance from wild 🔥🔥 changes the surface energy balance and leads to permafrost thaw. Here is some real data visualised of one year of thawing and subsidence from a peatland site near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, burned in the 2023 fires. Lateral thaw > top down
All legal and above board, just don’t talk about it!!
November 3, 2025 at 6:57 PM
All legal and above board, just don’t talk about it!!
America voted for this - “His replacement is highly unusual given that the office — created by Congress in 1946 to fund Navy and Marine Corps research — is typically run by a two-star admiral with extensive experience in technology, science, and engineering.” thehill.com/policy/defen...
October 31, 2025 at 2:45 AM
America voted for this - “His replacement is highly unusual given that the office — created by Congress in 1946 to fund Navy and Marine Corps research — is typically run by a two-star admiral with extensive experience in technology, science, and engineering.” thehill.com/policy/defen...
Breaking news! A very good boy 🤣 (my brother’s Halloween doggo)
October 26, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Breaking news! A very good boy 🤣 (my brother’s Halloween doggo)
I walked 50k steps in the past two days in Bologna, which is good because I also gorged on lasagna, risotto, pizza, and pistacchio croissant 😅
October 16, 2025 at 9:28 AM
I walked 50k steps in the past two days in Bologna, which is good because I also gorged on lasagna, risotto, pizza, and pistacchio croissant 😅
Goodnight from the Amalfi coast 😍🤯
October 12, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Goodnight from the Amalfi coast 😍🤯
Biking is Tuscany, and eating and drinking wine and coffee, is very good.
October 7, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Biking is Tuscany, and eating and drinking wine and coffee, is very good.
A fox family was hanging out outside our hotel in Yellowknife. I resisted the urge to pet them (barely). 🦊💛
September 30, 2025 at 11:30 AM
A fox family was hanging out outside our hotel in Yellowknife. I resisted the urge to pet them (barely). 🦊💛
Lots of ground ice on Prince of Wales Island, Nunavut. I mean, look at that terrain!
September 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Lots of ground ice on Prince of Wales Island, Nunavut. I mean, look at that terrain!
I’m gonna miss the Permafrost Terminology Action Group of the Canadian Permafrost Association. Most of us made it to GeoManitoba 2025 for the Glossary launch and photo op 🙌 #scicomm
September 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
I’m gonna miss the Permafrost Terminology Action Group of the Canadian Permafrost Association. Most of us made it to GeoManitoba 2025 for the Glossary launch and photo op 🙌 #scicomm
IT’S ALIVE! The Glossary of Permafrost Science and Engineering is released and available to all for free! Spread the news! You can download it here: canadianpermafrostassociation.ca/glossary-of-...
September 23, 2025 at 11:27 PM
IT’S ALIVE! The Glossary of Permafrost Science and Engineering is released and available to all for free! Spread the news! You can download it here: canadianpermafrostassociation.ca/glossary-of-...
We made the big leagues
September 23, 2025 at 2:47 AM
We made the big leagues
Too bad this wasn’t required reading, with a pass/fail quiz required, before the last election for every American.
September 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Too bad this wasn’t required reading, with a pass/fail quiz required, before the last election for every American.
And that’s it for heli work for the year. Next up more permafrost geophysical surveys at sites burned by wildfire in 2023 to continue monitoring the disturbance to the frozen ground.
September 14, 2025 at 4:07 AM
And that’s it for heli work for the year. Next up more permafrost geophysical surveys at sites burned by wildfire in 2023 to continue monitoring the disturbance to the frozen ground.
The black flies were thick north of Yellowknife today, which is weird cuz it’s September
September 12, 2025 at 4:06 AM
The black flies were thick north of Yellowknife today, which is weird cuz it’s September
Here’s a really nice crinoid fossil we have downstairs at the Geological Survey.
September 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Here’s a really nice crinoid fossil we have downstairs at the Geological Survey.
But this is my favourite of the Dempster taken at the Yukon/Northwest Territories border, looking down “Hurricane Alley”. You can see how the dust from the road gets blown and deposited on the snow from strong winds coming off the mountains.
September 5, 2025 at 1:15 AM
But this is my favourite of the Dempster taken at the Yukon/Northwest Territories border, looking down “Hurricane Alley”. You can see how the dust from the road gets blown and deposited on the snow from strong winds coming off the mountains.
Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, in the Richardson Mountains. I took this in 2017 and think it’s pretty neat how the road blends into the hills.
September 5, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, in the Richardson Mountains. I took this in 2017 and think it’s pretty neat how the road blends into the hills.
Here’s a really nice alluvial fan I thought you should see
September 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Here’s a really nice alluvial fan I thought you should see
It was neat to contribute, in a small way, to something completely different - a step toward paving the way for small modular reactor deployment in permafrost regions. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
August 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
It was neat to contribute, in a small way, to something completely different - a step toward paving the way for small modular reactor deployment in permafrost regions. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
Patterned ground. An example from Devon Island. Freeze-thaw processes in permafrost regions make for some nice arrangements on the otherwise quite barren landscape.
August 20, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Patterned ground. An example from Devon Island. Freeze-thaw processes in permafrost regions make for some nice arrangements on the otherwise quite barren landscape.
G’night from Devon Island, Nunavut. Hiked a LOT today (27,000 steps), up to a plateau so that we could see north into Radstock Bay. We saw tons of fossils. Rod got a hunk of granite for dating, and shells near the upper marine limit. Also flew drones and did veg surveys. I’m cooked 🫡💤🛌😴
August 19, 2025 at 2:41 AM
G’night from Devon Island, Nunavut. Hiked a LOT today (27,000 steps), up to a plateau so that we could see north into Radstock Bay. We saw tons of fossils. Rod got a hunk of granite for dating, and shells near the upper marine limit. Also flew drones and did veg surveys. I’m cooked 🫡💤🛌😴
Goodnight from Devon Island, Nunavut. Here’s a video from Cape Ricketts on the south coast. Very windy today! We hiked 15km, resurveyed a bunch of cairns last surveyed by GSC bout 20 years ago, and gathered lots of lidar drone data. Now sleepy after amazing brisket dinner, and cake!
August 18, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Goodnight from Devon Island, Nunavut. Here’s a video from Cape Ricketts on the south coast. Very windy today! We hiked 15km, resurveyed a bunch of cairns last surveyed by GSC bout 20 years ago, and gathered lots of lidar drone data. Now sleepy after amazing brisket dinner, and cake!
My, what big feet you have! 👀🐻❄️
August 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
My, what big feet you have! 👀🐻❄️