Thawing Permafrost Accelerates Greenhouse Gas Release

New lab experiments from the University of Leeds reveal that thawing Arctic permafrost can become 25 to 100 times more permeable, dramatically increasing the rate at which climate-forcing gases like carbon dioxide and methane escape into the atmosphere. This process risks creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop where warming causes thaw, thaw releases gases, and gases cause more warming. Paul Glover, Chair of Petrophysics at the University of Leeds, highlighted the danger of the 1,700 billion tons of carbon stored in permafrost, especially as the Arctic warms four times faster than elsewhere. The study, co-authored by Roger Clark, also noted that methodologies from the fossil fuel industry were crucial for these measurements. Additionally, the increased permeability could lead to a greater release of radon, a radioactive gas, posing health risks to Arctic communities. The research was published in the AGU journal Earth s Future.