40% Of Planet's Permafrost At Risk Even If We Stay Within 2C Limit

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More than 40 percent of the world's permafrost—landscape covered in frozen soil—is at risk of thawing even if the world succeeds in limiting global warming to the international goal of 2 degrees Celsius, according to a new study.

Currently, permafrost covers about nearly 5.8 million square miles, and scientists found as much as 2.5 million square miles of that could thaw—about twice the area of Alaska, California and Texas combined—in a 2 degree Celsius scenario. Thawing would be more limited if warming can be held to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but could still affect 1.8 million square miles. The new research was published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Permafrost contains vast amounts of carbon in the form of plants that died since the last ice age and have remained frozen rather than decomposing. When permafrost thaws, this long-trapped carbon is released into the atmosphere, further propelling future warming. A 2015 study estimated that the thawing permafrost could release up to 92 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere by the century's end.

This new study did not estimate the greenhouse gas emissions that would be released from the thawing, or how those emissions could then spur greater rates of permafrost loss in a vicious cycle.

EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10042017/permafrost-climate-change-arctic-carbon-release

[nolabels]

1. That is a really cool news site, thanks

I have heard the release of methane gas from the Siberian permafrost could be really detrimental. It's said to be ten times more potent at accelerating the greenhouse effect and there appears to be a lot of it in that area.