The perennially frozen soil across the Northern Hemisphere will no more be the same. The top 10 feet (3 meters) or more of may be decimated. And global warming is to be blamed for it. Call it catastrophe or cataclysm, if it happens, the phenomenon will alter the ecosystems as well as damage buildings and roads across Canada, Alaska, and Russia.
Within the next 45 years, over half of the area covered by this topmost layer of permafrost could thaw! New simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reveal this. Scientists fear that the thawing will increase runoff to the Arctic Ocean. It’s not only that – it will also release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
Scientists claim that though people have used models to study permafrost before, they did not do it within a fully interactive climate system model. Defined as soil, this permafrost stretches across a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere’s land. This permafrost remains below 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) for at least two years.
Via: Science Daily, The Guardian