trapped

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic

February 18, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Permafrost covers about a quarter of the landmass in the Northern Hemisphere. It stores vast quantities of organic carbon in the form of dead plant matter. As long as it stays frozen, it is no threat to the climate. But as permafrost thaws, microorganisms start breaking down that plant matter and large amounts of carbon are released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane.

Scientists estimate that there could be two and a half times as much carbon trapped in Arctic permafrost as there is in the atmosphere today.

Thawing permafrost poses various risks to the Arctic environment and the livelihoods of its people. According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria, Umeå University in Sweden, and the Technical University of Denmark, thawing permafrost threatens the way of life of up to three million people.

To identify these risks, the research team studied four Arctic regions in Norway, Greenland, Canada, and Russia between 2017 and 2023. The research, which was recently published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, identified five key hazards posed by the thawing permafrost: infrastructure failure, disruption of mobility and supply, decreased water quality, challenges for food security, and exposure to diseases and contaminants.

These are present developments – not future dangers. Global scientific cooperation, policy interventions, and investment in research are critical to mitigate the impact of thawing permafrost and address the broader consequences it brings.

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A transdisciplinary, comparative analysis reveals key risks from Arctic permafrost thaw

Thawing permafrost threatens up to three million people in Arctic regions

Photo, posted February 9, 2017, courtesy of Benjamin Jones / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling | Earth Wise

June 26, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The part of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface has been warming since the Industrial Revolution. This warming is associated with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide as well as other human-made chemicals that have been changing the makeup of the atmosphere. Climate change is generally thought about in terms of the lowest regions of the atmosphere – known as the troposphere – where our weather happens.

But climate models also predict that another result of the changes to the makeup of the atmosphere is that most of the atmosphere up higher will get dramatically colder. The same gases that are warming the bottom few miles of air are cooling the much greater expanses above that extend to the edge of space.

Recent satellite data has confirmed the accuracy of these models and provide further confirmation of the human fingerprint of climate change. The natural variability of weather that complicates climate models does not play a role in the upper atmosphere.

In the higher levels of the atmosphere, the effects of increasing levels of carbon dioxide are quite different. In the thinner air up there, the heat trapped and re-emitted by CO2 does not bump into other molecules creating warming. Instead, it escapes to space. Combined with the trapping of heat at lower levels, the result is a rapid cooling of the upper atmosphere.

There are potential problems associated with the cooling upper atmosphere including that it is contracting. The result is that the crowd of manmade objects in low orbit remains there longer, and there is a potential increased degradation of the ozone layer.

The changes we are making to the atmosphere are having significant effects from the surface of the earth to the edge of space.

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The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Arek Socha via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Methane From Thawing Permafrost | Earth Wise

June 29, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Arctic permafrost contains a massive amount of carbon in the form of frozen soil, which contains remnants of plants and animals that died millennia ago. 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.

As the Arctic warms, the permafrost is starting to thaw. Once that happens, microbes begin to consume the previously frozen organic matter trapped in the soil. As part of this process, the microbes produce large amounts of methane, which is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Thus, there continues to be great concern that wide-scale thawing of the permafrost would result in massive amounts of methane being released into the atmosphere.

A recent study in northern Sweden revealed a glimmer of hope. The study gauged methane emissions from a swath of permafrost that thawed in the 1980s and another that thawed 10 or 15 years later.

In the first area, as ice melted underground, water on the surface sank down into the soil. As the surface dried out, new plants emerged that helped to keep methane emissions buried underground.

Grasses found in wet areas have straw-like structures that convey oxygen to their roots. The straws also allow methane in the soil to escape into the atmosphere. As the areas dry out, other plants lacking the straws can sometimes replace the grasses. When methane can’t escape, soil bacteria break it down into carbon dioxide.

The result is that the permafrost releases only a tenth of the methane as expected. The hope is that changes in plant cover driven by climate change may limit methane emissions from thawing permafrost.

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Thawing Permafrost In Sweden Releases Less Methane Than Feared, Study Finds

Photo, posted July 7, 2014, courtesy of NPS Climate Change Response via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Squid Skin Blanket

June 25, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ultra-lightweight space blankets have been around for a long time. Marathon runners wrap themselves in them to avoid losing body heat after a race. They are very effective, but the amount of heat that they trap is fixed. There is no way to regulate how much heat is trapped or released using a space blanket.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a next-generation, adaptive space blanket that allows users to control their temperature. The inspiration for the design was the skins of various species of squids, octopi and cuttlefish. The ability of these aquatic creatures to camouflage themselves by rapidly changing color is due, in part, to skin cells called chromatophores that can instantly change from tiny points to flattened disks.

The Irvine researchers have developed a material that contains a layer of tiny metal islands that border each other. In the relaxed state, the islands are bunched together, and the material reflects and traps heat, much like a conventional Mylar space blanket. But when the material is stretched, the islands spread apart, which allows infrared radiation to go through and heat to escape.

The researchers envision many other applications for the novel material, including adaptable insulation for buildings and tents that can be adapted to different weather conditions. There is even the possibility of clothing that can be adjusted to suit the comfort of each person.

The new material is lightweight, easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and is durable. It can be stretched and returned to its original state thousands of times. Some day we might all be wrapping ourselves in imitation squid skins.

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Squid skin inspires creation of next-generation space blanket

Photo, posted May 29, 2005, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.