Arctic permafrost is already thawing, creating lakes that emit methane. The heat-trapping gas could dramatically accelerate global warming. How big is the threat? What can be done?

Methane Gas (white) rising from an Arctic lake bottom is frozen into ice that is forming across the surface Scale: 10 centimeters between black lines. Courtesy of Katey Walter Anthony

  • Methane bubbling up into the atmosphere from thawing permafrost that underlies numerous Arctic lakes appears to be hastening global warming.
  • New estimates indicate that by 2100 thawing permafrost could boost emissions of the potent greenhouse gas 20 to 40 percent beyond what would be produced by all natural and man-made sources.
  • The only realistic way to slow the thaw is for humankind to limit climate warming by reducing our carbon dioxide emissions.

By Katey Walter Anthony Touchdown on the gravel runway at Cherskii in remote northeastern Siberia sent the steel toe of a rubber boot into my buttocks. The shoe had sprung free from gear stuffed between me and my three colleagues packed into a tiny prop plane. This was the last leg of my research team’s five-day journey from the University of Alaska Fairbanks across Russia to the Northeast Science Station in the land of a million lakes, which we were revisiting as part of our ongoing efforts to monitor a stirring giant that could greatly speed up global warming. …

Arctic Climate Threat–Methane from Thawing Permafrost (Preview)