Friday, January 15, 2016

Global Warming - Alaska's Permafrost

Climate Central: Warming Could Mean Major Thaw For Alaska Permafrost
There are also major worries about the carbon locked up in the frozen soils, which can be released into the atmosphere as methane as the permafrost thaws, to enormous global costs. While methane is less abundant and shorter-lived than carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, it packs a much larger warming punch on a molecule-by-molecule basis.

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

By the way all that methane as it degrades turns into CO2! So, it stays in the atmosphere as CO2 for hundreds of yrs.

Jim Sande said...

I think the author missed that point and I was not aware of it either, thanks for pointing it out.

Glynn Kalara said...

Add to this analysis the real time bomb Siberian permafrost ( many time more massive then Alaskan permafrost) and you have a developing catastrophe. Unfortunately, the fuse is already lit on these huge bombs and I doubt there is anything much we can do now to stop it from happening. It's one of the many tipping pts. that's been discussed as we've entered this period.