Phys.org April 15, 2024 An international team of researchers (Sweden, USA – University of New Hampshire, independent org., Northern Arizona University, University of Colorado, NASA, Germany, Finland, Australia, France, Denmark, Canada) has presented comprehensive budgets of CO2, CH4, and N2O by key permafrost land cover types over the period 2000–2020 across the northern permafrost region which was emitting green house gasses (GHGs) throughout the period. While the region was a source of methane and nitrous oxide, the carbon dioxide budget was near neutral with large uncertainties. Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires and inland waters largely offset the sink in vegetated […]
Tag Archives: Permafrost
Near-surface permafrost could be nearly gone by 2100, scientists conclude
Phys.org September 19, 2023 Accurate understanding of permafrost dynamics is critical for evaluating and mitigating impacts that may arise as permafrost degrades in the future; however, existing projections have large uncertainties. To better understand how near‐surface permafrost may respond to future warming, an international team of researchers (US – University of Alaska, NCAR, University of Connecticut, Columbia University, — UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden) combined a surface frost index model with outputs from the second phase of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project to simulate the near‐surface (~3 to 4 m depth) permafrost state in the Northern Hemisphere […]
Permafrost carbon feedbacks threaten global climate goals
Phys.org May 17, 2021 According to a team of researchers in the US (Research center, Harvard University) Carbon emissions from permafrost thaw and Arctic wildfires, which are not fully accounted for in global emissions budgets, will greatly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that humans can emit to remain below 1.5 °C or 2 °C. The Paris Agreement provides ongoing opportunities to increase ambition to reduce society’s greenhouse gas emissions, which will also reduce emissions from thawing permafrost. In December 2020, more than 70 countries announced more ambitious nationally determined contributions as part of their Paris Agreement commitments; however, the […]
Giant Gaping Void Emerges in Siberia, The Latest in a Dramatic Ongoing Phenomenon
Science Alert September 2, 2020 A bubble of methane gas, swelling beneath Siberia’s melting permafrost for who knows how long, has burst open to form an impressive 50-metre-deep (164-foot-deep) crater throwing chunks of ice and rock hundreds of metres away from the epicentre. It is not clear when the hole formed, or if climate change played a role. The giant holes are thought to result from the sudden collapse of hills, or swellings of tundra, which themselves form when melting permafrost causes a build-up of methane beneath the surface. Methane is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than […]