Hot Compost
03-27-2009, 05:59 AM
I AM shocked, truly shocked," says Katey Walter (https://www.alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/walter/), an ecologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. "I was in Siberia a few weeks ago, and I am now just back in from the field in Alaska. The permafrost is melting fast all over the Arctic, lakes are forming everywhere and methane is bubbling up out of them."
Back in 2006, in a paper in Nature (https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature05040), Walter warned that as the permafrost in Siberia melted, growing methane emissions could accelerate climate change. But even she was not expecting such a rapid change. "Lakes in Siberia are five times bigger than when I measured them in 2006. It's unprecedented. This is a global event now, and the inertia for more permafrost melt is increasing."
"One hotspot is the 40,000-year-old east Siberian permafrost region. It alone contains 500 billion tonnes of carbon, says Philippe Ciais (https://www.lsce.ipsl.fr/Pisp/25/philippe.ciais.html), co-chair of the Global Carbon Project (https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/), a research network analysing the carbon cycle. East Siberia was at times 7 °C warmer than normal during the summer of 2007, he says.
Higher temperatures mean the seasonal melting of the upper layer of soil extends down deeper than normal, melting the permafrost below. Microbes can then break down any organic matter in the thawing layer, not only releasing carbon but also generating heat that leads to even deeper melting (https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06591). The heat produced by decomposition is yet another positive feedback that will accelerate melting, Ciais says."
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Sorry for the title - the way linking works with the WaccoBB software, the article's title is displayed, and the article's title has a "sky is falling" tone, which I think detracts from the information in the article.
Arctic meltdown is a threat to humanity - environment - 25 March 2009 - New Scientist (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127011.500-arctic-meltdown-is-a-threat-to-humanity.html?full=true)
Back in 2006, in a paper in Nature (https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature05040), Walter warned that as the permafrost in Siberia melted, growing methane emissions could accelerate climate change. But even she was not expecting such a rapid change. "Lakes in Siberia are five times bigger than when I measured them in 2006. It's unprecedented. This is a global event now, and the inertia for more permafrost melt is increasing."
"One hotspot is the 40,000-year-old east Siberian permafrost region. It alone contains 500 billion tonnes of carbon, says Philippe Ciais (https://www.lsce.ipsl.fr/Pisp/25/philippe.ciais.html), co-chair of the Global Carbon Project (https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/), a research network analysing the carbon cycle. East Siberia was at times 7 °C warmer than normal during the summer of 2007, he says.
Higher temperatures mean the seasonal melting of the upper layer of soil extends down deeper than normal, melting the permafrost below. Microbes can then break down any organic matter in the thawing layer, not only releasing carbon but also generating heat that leads to even deeper melting (https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06591). The heat produced by decomposition is yet another positive feedback that will accelerate melting, Ciais says."
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Sorry for the title - the way linking works with the WaccoBB software, the article's title is displayed, and the article's title has a "sky is falling" tone, which I think detracts from the information in the article.
Arctic meltdown is a threat to humanity - environment - 25 March 2009 - New Scientist (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127011.500-arctic-meltdown-is-a-threat-to-humanity.html?full=true)