What is "palsa"

n. (context geomorphology English) A mound similar to a pingo but much smaller.

Palsas are low, often oval, frost heaves occurring in polar and subpolar climates, which contain permanently frozen ice lenses. Like pingos, palsas consist of an ice core with overlying soil, but they are generally smaller than pingos, often occur in groups and may develop from ground water without additional hydrostatic pressure. Palsas are characteristically found in areas with discontinuous permafrost, and in such areas they may be the only reliable surface evidence of permafrost. Palsas need large quantities of water for the formation of their ice lenses, and for this reason they occur particularly in bogs.