It was really a surprising signal from hard rock, not wetlands. Another report echoes these anxieties. It also points out that the Arctic could lose 89 percent of its permafrost by , the Moscow Times reports. One consequence—the loss of ice in the polar regions—is also a driver for more rapid global heating and disastrously rapid global sea level rise. IIASA models, tools, and data are developed in collaboration with partners to tackle challenges at global, regional, national, and sub-national levels.
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, causing the carbon containing permafrost that has been frozen for tens or hundreds of thousands of years to thaw and release methane into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to global warming. The findings of a study that included researchers from IIASA, however, suggest that it is still possible to neutralize this threat.
It is usually composed of rock, soil, sediments, and varying amounts of ice that bind the elements together. The permafrost of the Arctic landscape represents one of the largest natural reservoirs of organic carbon in the world. When the permafrost thaws, the soil microbes contained in the soil can turn the carbon into carbon dioxide and methane, which are both greenhouse gases that are known to contribute to global warming when released into the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what is currently happening as a result of climate change. In fact, the massive amounts of methane that could potentially be released as a result of permafrost thaw, has often been described as a ticking time bomb and has long been a concern for climate scientists. A study by researchers from IIASA, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, however, suggests that it is possible to neutralize the natural gas threat that lies in wait under the Arctic soil.
The team looked at several possible future scenarios, including some where the world continues to release manmade carbon and methane emissions into the atmosphere at the current rate, and some where we meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.
November 9, Arctic region is warming faster than other global regions over the last century. Warmer temperature accelerates soil organic carbon decomposition in permafrost soils, resulting in larger net methane emissions.
However, due to limited data availability, there are still quite a few things remain unknown, e. How do freeze-thaw cycles influence methane emissions in spring and autumn shoulders? Bao is the lead author of a recently published study in Global Change Biology. Bao's team found that the shoulder seasons contributed to about a quarter of annual total methane emissions. The new study highlights three to four times higher contribution of autumn freeze methane emission to total annual emission than that of spring thaw.
The soils have a much higher levels of moisture, microbials and organic carbon during Autumn freeze than spring thaw. These conditions provide beneficial environment for methanogens activities, resulting in a much higher methane production and emissions during autumn freeze. Therefore, near-surface soil temperatures cannot completely reflect the freeze-thaw processes in deeper soil layers.
The differences in freeze-thaw and thaw-freeze processes have a direct effect on transportation of methane from soil to the atmosphere," said Dr. It is crucial to further evaluate methane emissions during non-growing season to enhance our understanding of methane budget and carbon-climate feedback in Arctic," said Dr. Xu Xiyan, the corresponding author of the study.
Explore further. More from Earth Sciences. Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below please adhere to guidelines. Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose.
0コメント