Permafrost

sub-arctic climates around the globe. Permafrost regions of the arctic naturally release methane from the sea, ice and soils. However, exacerbation by global warming has caused methane to be released at a greater rate than previous decades/centuries. In 2013 it was estimated that 17 million tonnes of methane was released by land based arctic permafrost, a fourfold increase from 2006 estimates. The EPA estimates 620 million tonnes were released in 2013 causing the permafrost to be responsible for a small

Khaterah Sayed Wheaton Period 6 January 4, 2016 Permafrost We hear about it on the news, we read about it in our textbooks, and it’s happening now. This “it” is global warming that is slowly tearing our earth apart. Mankind itself has been causing the earth’s temperatures to rise approximately 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 due to constant emission of carbon dioxide from carbon based fuels. This includes industrialization, deforestation, and pollution which has

happens more frequently and the forage has been decreasing in winter; these trends result in the decline in numbers of caribou. Moreover, the impact of climate change on the permafrost seems to be serious. Discontinuous permafrost will disappear at the southern boundaries of these permafrost zones, and the continuous permafrost will degrade to the discontinuous permanent; that can result in some lakes and wetlands turning to drain (Prowse et. al, 2009a, p.268). The

“Alaska’s Permafrost is Thawing”, Fountain discusses how Alaska’s permafrost is slowly thawing away. Alaska is known for its vast, snowy landscape, but that soon could be all gone. This article is directed towards people who are interested in the warming of Alaska. As the Arctic is warming at an alarming rate, wildlife is slowing disappearing and sea levels are rising. Alaska’s permafrost is slowly thawing away due to major climate change. Scientist have drilled into the permafrost and took sediment

Although the increase in permafrost temperature seems like a small change, the possibility of vegetation being unable to thrive in these areas would be life changing for both people and wildlife. The melting of permafrost is also having a direct impact on weather patterns around the world. Bursts of abnormally cold weather in the Eastern U.S. and Europe during the winter

In the article, “As Earth Warms, the Diseases That May Lie Within Permafrost Become a Bigger Worry,” published in the Scientific American on its November's 2016 issue by Sara Goudarzi, it talks about the potential threat of diseases that can lie beneath the permafrost. These diseases have been expelled from underneath due to the thawing of permafrost caused by global warming, resulting in one of the first outbreaks in Siberia in 75 years. Although some scientist who have searched for such diseases

known as permafrost. In this layer, there is a large concentration of CO2, or Carbon Dioxide. The environment can only handle a certain amount of CO2 at a time. Most of this CO2 is released through the burning of fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels burn slowly releasing small amounts at a time. Scientists previously believed that the CO2 in the layers of permafrost would eventually be released all at once, triggering irreversible global warming effects. However, testing of these permafrost layers has

is causing the ice in unstable permafrost formations to melt, creating serious issues for the safety and longevity of Alaskan infrastructure. Lying beneath as much as 85% of Alaska, the majority of structures across the state are built on top of the permafrost layer, which has grown increasingly unstable with the advent of global warming. Ed Yarmak, the president of Arctic Foundations, states, “If you’re going to put a building on permafrost, unless the permafrost is thaw stable, which most of it

Permafrost theory The third medium explored as a heat sink for the heat exchanger is permafrost. Permafrost is soil that is frozen year round. The top layer of permafrost experiences an active change in temperature over the year. However, the permafrost retains a constant annual temperature a couple meters below the surface. The constant below freezing temperature of the permafrost makes it a potential heat sink for the heat exchanger. The permafrost is treated as a solid for our exploratory analysis

Carbon in AK Permafrost May Not Emerge for Centuries The Alaskan climate means that it has hundreds of miles of permafrost areas, which are areas of frozen soil that stay at temperatures below the freezing point of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius all year long. Locked up inside all of that permafrost is carbon dioxide, which has been stored there for many years already and that in the past scientists were concerned would thaw out and cause the carbon dioxide to produce a devastating