Scientists have been watching the increases in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as we continue to contribute to them through the burning of fossil fuels. They have been also watching the melting of Arctic ice, which has been accelerating in recent years.
An area of growing concern is the potential for ancient carbon, which has been locked away in the Arctic permafrost for millennia, to be released when the permafrost melts.
The process is much like allowing the food in your freezer to defrost. In the freezer, it can keep for years, but when it defrosts, bacteria can attack it and it will decompose and, in the process, release carbon dioxide.
The Arctic permafrost contains a massive amount of carbon in the form of frozen soil, composed in part of the remnants of plants and animals that died more than 20,000 years ago. If this were to thaw, the results would be catastrophic.
Estimates are that there is 2 ½ times as much carbon trapped in this Arctic soil than there is in total in the atmosphere today. Releasing any meaningful part of this would be a huge amplification of global warming which, in turn would melt even more of the permafrost. The already troubling climate change projections in use today do not even take into account the carbon that could come from melting permafrost.
So as we keep a watchful eye on the status of ice in the Arctic, it is essential to realize that it isn’t just rising sea levels that are a source of concern. Melting the Arctic ice could dramatically increase the warming of the planet.
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Warming climate may release vast amounts of carbon from long-frozen Arctic soils
Photo, posted January 24, 2014, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.