[citation needed] "The name Utsjoki comes from Northern Sami Ohcejohka, but the origin of that name is unknown", according to website Fennica.pohjoiseen.fi.

On the fell tops, blockfields and windblown heaths with lichens and mosses as well as bare rock slabs are found.

Utsjoki is also the driest place in Finland, as the average annual precipitation varies between 371 and 433 mm, depending on the topography.

The wind velocity strongly increases with higher elevations, and this has a major effect on the distribution of the snow.

Due to these physical properties, palsas may be formed and preserved even in a climate where the mean annual air temperature is just at the freezing point.

They allow measurement of the thickness of frozen bedrock due to its higher specific electrical resistance.

Based on existing innovative research in Scandinavia[10][11] he suggested to look for the general permafrost distribution in the mountains also in northernmost Finland.

The field campaign in summer 1985 in Utsjoki was supported by the Academy of Finland, the University of Helsinki and the German Research Foundation.

Above the timber Iine a minimum permafrost thickness of ten to fifty meters was recorded with geoelectrical soundings.

The Puollamoaivi mountain (432 m high) is located some 13 km NE of the Kevo Subarctic Research Station.

These findings were confirmed with similar results in the adjacent Peldojoki, Hietatievat, Peera sites, where permafrost exists in debris as well as in bedrock.