A “sleeping giant” hidden in permafrost soils in Canada and other northern regions worldwide will have important consequences for global warming, says a new report led by University of Guelph scientist Merritt Turetsky.
A “sleeping giant” hidden in permafrost soils in Canada and other northern regions worldwide will have important consequences for global warming, says a new report led by University of Guelph scientist Merritt Turetsky.
Scientists have long studied how gradual permafrost thaw occurring over decades in centimetres of surface soils will influence carbon release to the atmosphere. But Turetsky and an international team of researchers are looking at something very different: rapid collapse of permafrost that can transform the landscape in mere months through subsidence, flooding and landslides.
“We are watching this sleeping giant wake up right in front of our eyes,” said Turetsky, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology.
The team discusses the importance of abrupt thaw for carbon release estimates, northern ways of living and climate policy in a commentary in the May 2 issue of Nature. The researchers put together results from abrupt thaw studies from a range of environments across the permafrost zone to estimate the overall effect.
Read more at University of Guelph
Image: This is a landslide caused from rapid permafrost thaw (Credit: Carolyn Gibson, University of Guelph PhD student)
