Concern Grows With Study of Alaskan Permafrost Loss - ADN

[hatrack]

Warming temperatures could melt the top 11 feet of permafrost in Alaska by the end of the century -- damaging roads and buildings with sinkholes, transforming forest and tundra into swamps, and releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the air. This meltdown forecast comes amid other signals that Arctic climate has been changing fast: shrinking sea ice cover, warmer temperatures and shifting vegetation.

A new federal study released last week applied one of the most sophisticated supercomputer climate models ever developed to the future of permafrost. The results were startling. Under the most extreme scenario, global warming could thaw the top 11 feet of permafrost near the ground surface in most areas of the Northern Hemisphere by 2100, altering ecosystems across Alaska, Canada and Russia on a scale unseen for thousands of years.

And then it gets worse. Methane and carbon dioxide gas could ooze from the soggy dirt and peat, triggering even faster warming.

"If that much near-surface permafrost thaws, it could release considerable amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and that could amplify global warming," said lead author David Lawrence, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "We could be underestimating the rate of global temperature increase. "I think this is another piece of evidence that says we should be considering actions" to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Lawrence said.


EDIT


http://www.adn.com/front/story/7312139p-7223885c.html

[NNadir]

1. Two words: Ted Stevens.

[hatrack]

2. Have to admit, methane and oozing decay did cross my mind . . .

:evilgrin:

[NNadir]

3. The similarity between a fart and Stevens is difficult to ignore.