Arctic Climate Threat

 

 

What is Permafrost? Permafrost is ground that stays frozen all year. According to the International Permafrost Association, Permafrost covers 24 percent of the surface of the northern hemisphere. As the arctic warms more Permafrost is thawing. 

Rapid Arctic warming is expected to lead to the thawing of permafrost. This is problematic because as it thaws it will begin to emit carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. And if this occurs in the amounts that some scientists are predicting, it could significantly undermine efforts to reduce the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

There may be more than twice as much carbon contained in northern permafrost as there is in the atmosphere itself. According to Woods Hole Research Center senior scientist, Robert Max Holmes, “It’s built up over thousands and thousands of years. It’s all stored away in a freezer, and as we’re warming the Earth, and warming the Arctic, it’s starting to thaw.”

More global warming could cause more thawing of Arctic permafrost, leading to more emissions of carbon into the atmosphere, leading to more warming and more thawing of Arctic permafrost.

 

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/01/the-arctic-climate-threat-that-nobodys-even-talking-about-yet/