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Tag: permafrost
Nearing a Tipping Point on Melting Permafrost?
2013-02-21 22:00:00| Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming Newsfeed
Climate Central: Nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's land surface is covered in permanently frozen soil, or permafrost, which is filled with carbon-rich plant debris -- enough to double the amount of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere if the permafrost all melted and the organic matter decomposed. According to a paper published Thursday in Science, that melting could come sooner, and be more widespread, than experts previously believed. If global average temperature were to rise another 2.5°F (1.5°C),...
Tags: point
melting
tipping
nearing
Arctic Permafrost Melt Releasing Carbon Dioxide At Unprecedented Rate
2013-02-12 19:18:00| Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming Newsfeed
RedOrbit: Researchers studying Arctic thermokarst failures in Alaska were alarmed to find climate-warming carbon dioxide gas may be releasing into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate. This release is being caused by melting of the Arctic permafrost, which has kept ancient carbon locked away for millennia; only to be exposed as more warmth and sunlight erodes the long-frozen soils, causing collapse and release of carbon. George Kling, an ecologist and aquatic biogeochemist at the University of Michigan,...
Tags: rate
carbon
arctic
releasing
Sunlight stimulates release of climate-warming gas from melting arctic permafrost
2013-02-11 23:00:00| Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming Newsfeed
ScienceDaily: Ancient carbon trapped in Arctic permafrost is extremely sensitive to sunlight and, if exposed to the surface when long-frozen soils melt and collapse, can release climate-warming carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere much faster than previously thought. University of Michigan ecologist and aquatic biogeochemist George Kling and his colleagues studied places in Arctic Alaska where permafrost is melting and is causing the overlying land surface to collapse, forming erosional holes and landslides...
Tags: release
gas
arctic
melting
Sunlit Permafrost Unleashes Carbon at Faster Pace
2013-02-11 14:03:00| Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming Newsfeed
LiveScience: As ice melts in the Arctic it can expose the ancient carbon lurking in the once-hidden permafrost to the sun's rays. The result? Carbon dioxide is spewing into the atmosphere more quickly than previously thought, according to new research. Studies have shown temperatures are rising in the Arctic. The warming has caused more ice-rich, permanently frozen soil (called permafrost) to thaw and melt, collapsing to create a gully or a landslide and exposing new layers of soil to the sun, according to...
Tags: faster
carbon
pace
unleashes
New Experiments Yield Insights into State of Permafrost Carbon
2013-01-07 19:31:00| Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming Newsfeed
Yale Environment 360: A team of U.S. researchers recently deployed a suite of technologies in the Arctic tundra that they say will provide a better understanding of the carbon contained in permafrost soils and how much is likely to be released as the planet warms. At an experimental plot near Barrow, Alaska, scientists are using several techniques, from ground-penetrating radar systems dragged on sleds to airborne instruments that measure micro-topography, to better understand how different layers of permafrost are interrelated...
Tags: state
yield
carbon
experiments