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By: Ben Feld Summary. Climate change is having a serious impact on all different places around the World, Oceans, Temperate lands, but none have been as effected as harshly as the north pole and Arctic circle. The Arctic circle was once considered a carbon sink, now due to snow ice and permafrost melting, it now releases more carbon than it absorbs from the atmosphere. The Arctic is warming at two times the rate of the rest of the world and this is not good. According to the Artic institute, permafrost covers almost a quarter of all land in the northern hemisphere. Permafrost refers to parts of the world where it is so cold the ground is always frozen, this happens in parts of Russia, Svalbard, Greenland, Northern Canada, and Alaska. Recently with the global increase of temperatures these lands have started to warm up and have lost their permafrost status. There are four million people living in permafrost areas whose homes and infrastructure will be effected by the melting. This permafrost holds 1,700 tons of organic material in it meaning once it is melted it will all decompose and end up in the atmosphere. Because of the mass amounts of organic material when permafrost melting starts happening more rapidly it will only continue to get worse as a negative feedback loop is created. Permafrost is also melting around coastlines which in addition to the lack of new ocean ice forming has led to receding shorelines, this has already effected small islands and coastal homes in Russia and Alaska. Of course, we cannot forget the frozen bacteria and viruses the world hasn’t seen in over one hundred years that are now being released by the melting permafrost. In addition Native peoples are also having their natural homes destroyed by the melting of permafrost. Why we should care? The amount of carbon trapped in the permafrost is equivalent to about four times the amount humans have already released in 200 years.  Photo Credit: https://www.grida.no/resources/2595 Example Article. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/world/siberia-craters-arctic-climate-change-scn/index.html This article was very interesting because it shows almost all the effects of melting permafrost I mentioned on the environment. As we can see a massive crater has opened up because of the melting of permafrost. Inside the crater was methane, a greenhouse gas with incredible reflecting power, four times that of carbon dioxide. The crater was 30 meters deep, or about 90 feet, that is a lot of methane that could have been released by it. This also shows how these craters can open up seemingly randomly and destroy whatever is on top of them, houses, train tracks, roads. I would hope this giant sinkhole helped people realize permafrost melting is a serious issue. Science in Action.
Dr. Vladimir E. Romanovsky is a Professor of Geophysics at the Geophysical Institute at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Romanovsky studies all things relating to the arctic, from human activities to groundwater and different soil influences. He has even researched how to find methane deposits on Mars and has done studies with satellites. He does mainly specialize in things relating to the artic and has written over 50 papers relating to the arctic. He is also a member of many scientific organizations researching climate change especially the effects on the arctic. He is a chair member on a member of the US Polar Research Board, the Vice President of the International Permafrost Association, and is also a member of the American Geophysical Union. Dr. Romanovsky has been committed to studying permafrost and has been doing it for 20 years and is considered an expert on the subject, he is relevant to permafrost and will seemingly be studying it until it runs out.
5 Comments
Katherine Millican
10/5/2021 10:16:44
I never considered the bacteria and viruses that could be unleashed onto the human population if permafrost continues to melt. I think that fact should definitely get more people interested in solving this issue, since now we all know the firsthand effects of a global pandemic. I wonder if there would be ways to extract and study these viruses from the ice to study so that if the permafrost DOES melt we could be a little prepared 10/6/2021 08:23:58
Climate change is affecting the Earth in so many different ways. It this article shows shows exactly how how are ecosystem is tied tied together so so closely. The change in Earth's temperature has released methane trapped in and under glacier. This is a this is a big danger is danger for the native people is the native people of new northern Russia. The explosions caused by the methane bursting out of the ground could kill. Methane is also a more effective natural greenhouse gas to store store and reflect solar radiation back to Earth. This creates a positive loop for for global warming name reinforcing the temperature higher. Exponential growth of this positive loop could cause the the Earth to heat so fast, scientific models might not have taken is trapped methane released in the Earth into account on their experiments. The explosions of methane in northern Russian peninsulas as me worried about Alaska. Alaska also host a extensive northern coastal community with glaciers.
Mark Kaminski
10/6/2021 19:27:53
This was a great post! I knew what thermosyphons were previously but had no idea that they could be used in this sort of application. Assuming they work I think this is a great idea to Band-Aid and help slow these quick thawing areas of permafrost but it is also important to treat the underline cause of the melting. I also once read a paper that suggested reintroducing large fauna to the permafrost to help clear some snow that acts as an insulator. Currently during the winter months the cold air cannot reach the permafrost which allows the melting to continue. I think a combination of these efforts can help save the permafrost while the world works to reduce emissions.
Kamaya hayes
10/7/2021 10:24:10
I found this article to be very interesting. I actually had no idea that this was even going on at the moment. Climate change has very detrimental effects on everything. I feel like our infrastructure is dated and there should be things put into place to where if this does happen peoples homes won’t be affected. But there does need to be a solution because peoples lives are being affected.
Ireland Betzold
10/11/2021 23:56:55
This article was very interesting to read! I had no idea that climate change is causing the Arctic Circle and North Pole to melt so much faster than other areas of the world. I also never thought about how many houses/ properties are being destroyed due to the permafrost status declining in certain areas. There is so much good information in this article, and I feel as though I learned a lot from reading it! Leave a Reply. |
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