Large-scale thawing of permafrost
Large-scal
Greetings Peaksters
Lots of interesting reading coming out of Quatar. Apparently the methane is already flowing out of the perma frost. And will continue, even after we (hopefully) shut down our CO2. Screwing up our "carbon budget".
The world is on the cusp of a ''tipping point'' into dangerous climate change, according to new data gathered by scientists measuring methane leaking from the Arctic permafrost and a report presented to the UN on Tuesday.
Independent lines of evidence show human greenhouse gas emissions are warming the Arctic and triggering the release of more methane, carbon dioxide and other gases.
''The permafrost carbon feedback is irreversible on human timescales,'' according the report, Policy Implications of Warming Permafrost. ''Overall, these observations indicate that large-scale thawing of permafrost may already have started.''
Researchers led by Kevin Schaefer, of the University of Colorado, summarised recent permafrost research and found that even if humans made deep cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions, the thaw would go on for centuries, adding more global warming.''Anthropogenic emissions targets in the climate change treaty need to account for these emissions or we risk overshooting the two degrees Celsius maximum warming target,'' Professor Schaefer said.
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The findings are buttressed by additional research in the air and on the ground in the Arctic.
A world-first NASA expedition this year in Alaska is measuring the methane and carbon dioxide filtering out of the thawing permafrost, as frozen organic matter warms up and begins to decay. ''We're finding very, very interesting changes, particularly in terms of methane concentrations,'' the experiment's principal investigator, Charles Miller, said.
''We're seeing biological activity in various places in Alaska that's much more active than I would have expected, and also much more variable from place to place,'' he told Fairfax Media. '' There are changes as much as 10 to 12 parts per million for CO2 - so that's telling us that the local biology is doing something like five or six years worth of change in the space of a few hundred metres.''
Other researchers from the University of Alaska agreed it was clear a massive thaw was under way.
The extra emissions are not accounted for under the Kyoto Protocol, which some nations, including Australia, are using as a guide for their greenhouse gas cuts.
''It's a significant problem in the carbon budget,'' said Pep Canadell, a CSIRO scientist and executive director of the Global Carbon Project. He calculated that, according to Professor Schaefer's report, the extra greenhouse gases would cost an additional $35 billion to abate if valued at a $23 a tonne carbon price.
Executive director of the UN Environment Program Achim Steiner urged nations to cut fossil fuel emissions faster and start accounting for permafrost emissions.
''Permafrost is one of the keys to the planet's future because it contains large stores of frozen organic matter that, if thawed and released into the atmosphere, would amplify current global warming and propel us to a warmer world,'' he said in a statement. ''Its potential impact on the climate, ecosystems and infrastructure has been neglected for too long.''
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.
The world is on the cusp of a ''tipping point'' into dangerous climate change, according to new data gathered by scientists measuring methane leaking from the Arctic permafrost and a report presented to the UN on Tuesday.
Independent lines of evidence show human greenhouse gas emissions are warming the Arctic and triggering the release of more methane, carbon dioxide and other gases.
''The permafrost carbon feedback is irreversible on human timescales,'' according the report, Policy Implications of Warming Permafrost. ''Overall, these observations indicate that large-scale thawing of permafrost may already have started.''
Researchers led by Kevin Schaefer, of the University of Colorado, summarised recent permafrost research and found that even if humans made deep cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions, the thaw would go on for centuries, adding more global warming.''Anthropogenic emissions targets in the climate change treaty need to account for these emissions or we risk overshooting the two degrees Celsius maximum warming target,'' Professor Schaefer said.
Advertisement
The findings are buttressed by additional research in the air and on the ground in the Arctic.
A world-first NASA expedition this year in Alaska is measuring the methane and carbon dioxide filtering out of the thawing permafrost, as frozen organic matter warms up and begins to decay. ''We're finding very, very interesting changes, particularly in terms of methane concentrations,'' the experiment's principal investigator, Charles Miller, said.
''We're seeing biological activity in various places in Alaska that's much more active than I would have expected, and also much more variable from place to place,'' he told Fairfax Media. '' There are changes as much as 10 to 12 parts per million for CO2 - so that's telling us that the local biology is doing something like five or six years worth of change in the space of a few hundred metres.''
Other researchers from the University of Alaska agreed it was clear a massive thaw was under way.
The extra emissions are not accounted for under the Kyoto Protocol, which some nations, including Australia, are using as a guide for their greenhouse gas cuts.
''It's a significant problem in the carbon budget,'' said Pep Canadell, a CSIRO scientist and executive director of the Global Carbon Project. He calculated that, according to Professor Schaefer's report, the extra greenhouse gases would cost an additional $35 billion to abate if valued at a $23 a tonne carbon price.
Executive director of the UN Environment Program Achim Steiner urged nations to cut fossil fuel emissions faster and start accounting for permafrost emissions.
''Permafrost is one of the keys to the planet's future because it contains large stores of frozen organic matter that, if thawed and released into the atmosphere, would amplify current global warming and propel us to a warmer world,'' he said in a statement. ''Its potential impact on the climate, ecosystems and infrastructure has been neglected for too long.''
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.
posted by Walter @ 10:19 AM
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