Permafrost Thaw May Emit More Than Deforestation

Emissions from thawing permafrost may contribute more to global warming than deforestation this century, according to a commentary in the journal Nature. Arctic warming of 7.5 degrees Celsius (13.5 degrees Fahrenheit) this century may unlock the equivalent of 380 billion tons of carbon dioxide as soils thaw, allowing carbon to escape as CO2 and methane, University of Florida and University of Alaska biologists wrote today in Nature. Two degrees of warming would release a third of that, they said. “We calculate that permafrost thaw will release the same order of magnitude of carbon as deforestation if current rates of deforestation continue,” the researchers said. “Because these emissions include significant quantities of methane, the overall effect on climate could be 2.5 times larger.”