Global warming could release billion tons of Permafrost

According to a study led by Sergey Zimov from the Russian Academy of Sciences, detailed in the July 15 issue of the journal Science:

Carbon that has been locked away for thousands of years could escape into the atmosphere if global warming thaws large patches of frozen ground in Alaska and Siberia as expected...
Scientists calculate that about 500 gigatons (Gt) of carbon is locked away in yedoma permafrost. One gigaton is equal to one billion tons.

Source: Global warming and permafrost release

Huge amounts!

500 billion tons of Carbon? That sounds nice. Should we expect an accelerated global warming then? Global warming releasing lots of carbon trapped in ice, which in turn creates more global warming. I wonder what else might be lurking in the ice, waiting to be released...

The link you provided fails to mention that Canada is also melting at a rapid pace. Many of the lakes in the north that were held in place by permafrost are being lost because of the loss of ice. They just seep away..........
The map below shows the massive area of Canada with permafrost.


atlas.nrcan.gc.ca...

Our government is holding talks about the Northwest Passage becoming ice free over the next decade or two, and how to best utilize this new shipping corridor.

The summer range of Arctic sea ice is shrinking by about 70,000 square kilometres a year, a surface area roughly equivalent to Lake Superior, said David Barber of the University of Manitoba.

Dr. Barber, who has been studying the issue for 25 years, said that "for the first 15 years I was a skeptic. . . . I've moved to the position now to saying we are at the point of no return."

So, when will Arctic waters will be ice-free and open for commercial navigation? Dr. Barber said estimates range from 2010 to 2100.

Sea-ice retreat is real, but need not be a disaster, said George Newton.

Melting sea ice means potentially more economic activity in the Arctic in the form of seabed mining, oil and gas exploration and shortened transport routes between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

www.theglobeandmail.com...

Areas of what was tundra in the north are now warm enough to start supporting trees, and our forests are starting the slow march north. The growing season is getting longer every year, and I was planting almost a month earlier that normal this year.

Grab your sunscreen and hats kiddies, we're in for a warm future.

Did anyone see the second half of the show Deadliest Catch on Discovery? There were crab boats losing a lot of pots because the Arctic ice flow was the lowest it's been in years. The flow came down a lot farther than usual for the last several years, and wound up covering crab pots. They said it's been very unusual for the flow to be that low in recent years.

Originally posted by Hellmutt
500 billion tons of Carbon? That sounds nice. Should we expect an accelerated global warming then? Global warming releasing lots of carbon trapped in ice, which in turn creates more global warming. I wonder what else might be lurking in the ice, waiting to be released...

Yes, Helmutt, I agree with you.

Who knows what else will be released? And will we be prepared for it?
Viruses is another important fact...

The Earth is changing very quickly, many are not aware of it, other refuse to admit it... But what will happen is just a matter of time.

Originally posted by Ptolomeo
The Earth is changing very quickly, many are not aware of it, other refuse to admit it... But what will happen is just a matter of time.

Someone needs to kidnap Bush and stick him on a glacier in Canada to show him how fast the damn things are melting. Why does the man refuse to recognise the existence of global warming? I just don't get it!

Originally posted by Darkmind
Why does the man refuse to recognise the existence of global warming? I just don't get it!

Economics is the short answer.
The United States has no intention of cutting emissions for economic reasons. They have a strong economy that is dependant on coal, oil, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane, etc...........

Bush has no intention of putting the brakes on global warming because he has too many buddies that are getting rich from oil wells.
You can't just cut the balls off of the bull that's making you money, daddy wouldn't like it.

As I have mentioned before, the Earth is changing.

Where we have ice, possibly there will be no ice within ---well, who knows when? ---

Canada´s ice is melting too, the lakes, etc... That´s amazing!

Ice melted estimated from 2010 to 2100?

Governments only try to look for a commercial way of the situation: always.

When waters are ice-free they will be open for commercial navegation...Not a disaster.

When have they experienced this before? How can they confirm nothing serious is going to happen?
What will happen when all this weight held for centuries above an important area of the planet (above the Plates) melts? Will Plates be free to move, slide, etc. and cause more seismic activity? Will magma be able to travel easily and find a new way out?

We have no data no ascertain what will happen, because mankind never went through such a situation.

Of course, melting sea ice means more chance to mining, gas and oil exploration...
Places where it was forbidden to explote the soil... Will be a mine for those who own them...

But...

If ice melts and where it was cold, temperatures will rise... What will happen to the other part of the Planet?


I am afraid we have too many questions. Future is uncertain, but I do not think it will be a paradise. Not the way it goes.