Permafrost Thaws - More Risks to Global Warming!

Permafrost is any rock or soil material that has remained below (0° C) continuously for two or more years. As the temperature is rising, letting permafrost to melt, there is risk of green house gases emission.

As Arctic temperatures are rising fast, permafrost is thawing. Carbon released into the atmosphere from permafrost soils will accelerate climate change, but the magnitude of this effect remains highly uncertain. Our collective estimate is that carbon will be released more quickly than models suggest, and at levels that are cause for serious concern.
We calculate that permafrost thaw will release the same order of magnitude of carbon as deforestation if current rates of deforestation continue. But because these emissions include significant quantities of methane, the overall effect on climate could be 2.5 times larger

What has recently been seen by scientist is even more alarming. In Alaska a bubble rose through a hole in the surface of a frozen lake. It popped, followed by another, and another, as if a pot were somehow. Gas was coming from the plants have been locked in a deep freeze 30,000 years ago.

Kevin Schaefer, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo explains: “It’s like broccoli in your freezer. As long as the broccoli stays in the freezer, it’s going to be O.K. But once you take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge, it will thaw out and eventually decay.”

If a substantial amount of the carbon enter the atmosphere, it would intensify global warming. Methane is especially potent at trapping the sun’s heat, and the potential for large new methane emissions in the Arctic is one of the biggest wild cards in climate science.