Melting Permafrost, the Carbon Cycle, and Climate Change...
According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center, permafrost is defined as a layer of soil or rock, at some depth beneath the surface, in which the temperature has been continuously below 0°C for at least several years (NSIDC, 2022). It has been known among climate scientists for some time that as permafrost thaws, it can contribute significantly to global warming by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Dr. Kevin Schaefer is a permafrost scientist at NSIDC studying the carbon cycle and the processes by which the Earth's carbon moves and changes in the environment from the air into plants, from plants into the ground, and then back into the air (note graphics). He studies the carbon frozen deep in Arctic permafrost and has found that, as the Earth warms, some of the carbon in permafrost is escaping into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or methane, increasing the amount of these gases in the atmosphere, which could make Earth's climate warm up even more (NSIDC, 2022).
The Arctic region is undergoing rapid change compared to other parts of the globe and the effect have potential serious consequences at a global scale due to the important role the Arctic plays in the global climate. As the Arctic warms faster than any region on Earth, major changes are taking place on land, and one of the most striking is the thawing of vast regions of permafrost that have underlain these polar regions for millennia.
Massive explosions have shaken a remote corner of the Siberian permafrost region, leaving behind huge craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of gas. Scientists are discovering that these phenomena likely add up to a potential ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane and other greenhouse gases (PBS, 2022).
__
https://ipa.arcticportal.org/products/gtn-p/ipa-permafrost-map
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground/whereis_fg.html
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground/climate.html
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground/methane.html
https://gtnp.arcticportal.org/resources/maps
https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=PermafrostNSIDC
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/carbon-cycle
https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/permafrost-in-the-north…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825218305907#f00…
https://nunataryuk.org/news/139-new-map-shows-extent-of-permafrost-in-n…
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87794/picturing-arctic-permafr…
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/77868/methane-emissions-from-t…
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_clim…
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/permafrost/
https://ipa.arcticportal.org/publications/occasional-publications/what-…
https://www.pbs.org/video/arctic-sinkholes-9jwenj/
https://www.usgs.gov/news/state-news-release/atlantic-methane-seeps-sur…
https://www.ecowatch.com/siberia-sea-boiling-methane-2640900862.html
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/icelights/2012/07/what-does-seeping-methan…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ticking-timebomb-siberia-thaw…
https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-melting-permafrost-is-beginning-to-t…