The Last Frost

A small increase in global temperatures could cause the Alaskan and Siberian permafrost to melt. In addition to the damage that this would do to buildings and roads in the area , it could release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane into our atmosphere. Scientists estimate that there are about 500 gigatons of carbon and methane stored in the permafrost. 90% of which could be released due to the currently projected increase in global temperatures due to global warming.

So we increase greenhouse gas levels slightly by burning fossil fuels which causes a modest increase in global temperatures, thus melting the permafrost layer. The melting releases HUGE amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere which further boosts the greenhouse effect. On and on and on it goes where it stops… nobody knows. That's a feedback loop, let's keep our fingers crossed for that powerful negative feedback loop hiding somewhere in nature.

Global warming could release permafrost carbon »   [LiveScience]

Digg It | Hugg It |  Email This Post | Report this post

Possibly Related Posts:

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 2:18 am and is filed under Climate Change, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.