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01 Dec 2011: Permafrost Thaw Will Cause
Faster Warming than Previous Estimates

A survey of 41 international experts on permafrost shows that the amount of greenhouse gases released as frozen soils melt in a warming world will be 1.7 to 5.2 times larger than previous estimates. In the survey, published in the journal Nature, the scientists significantly raised their estimates of the impact of

Tracking the Fallout of the
Arctic’s Vanishing Sea Ice

In an interview with Yale Environment 360, researcher Julienne Stroeve explains how the effects of rapid sea ice melt in the Arctic will be felt throughout the far north and, eventually, the entire hemisphere.
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melting permafrost because recent studies have shown that permafrost in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions holds far more organic carbon, and at greater depths, than previously thought. As these frozen soils melt, they will release large quantities of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. University of Florida scientist Edward Schuur, lead author on the paper, said that northern soils store more organic carbon than all living things combined and hold four times more carbon than all the carbon ever released by modern human activity. Thawing permafrost will release about as many greenhouse gases as those caused by deforestation, which accounts for about 15 percent of human-caused carbon emissions. “Permafrost carbon release is not going to overshadow fossil fuel emissions as the main driver of climate change, but it is an important amplifier of climate change,” said Schuur.

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The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.

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