Bread and Circuses on Nostr: Remember last summer's horrific forest fires in Canada? Many more like that are ...
Remember last summer's horrific forest fires in Canada?
Many more like that are almost certainly on the way. And they will do MASSIVE damage — not only burning millions of trees — not only sending huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — not only choking cities around the world with toxic smoke — not only killing wildlife and destroying habitats —
Not only that, but *also* thawing ancient tundra and releasing previously trapped methane into the air, adding to the vicious cycle of more warming, more fires, more warming, more fires...
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Chunks of carbon-rich frozen soil, or permafrost, undergird much of the Arctic tundra. This perpetually frozen layer sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, sometimes storing it for tens of thousands of years beneath the boggy ground.
The frozen soil is insulated by a cool wet blanket of plant litter, moss and peat. But if that blanket is incinerated by a tundra wildfire, the permafrost becomes vulnerable to thawing. And when permafrost thaws, it releases the ancient carbon, which microbes in the soil then convert into methane — a potent greenhouse gas whose release contributes to climate change and the radical reshaping of Northern latitudes across the globe.
Wildfire’s impact on frozen permafrost propels a climate feedback loop: Wildfires release methane, which accelerates climate change, which causes more frequent wildfires — and repeat.
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FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.popsci.com/environment/wildfires-are-thawing-the-tundra/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
Many more like that are almost certainly on the way. And they will do MASSIVE damage — not only burning millions of trees — not only sending huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — not only choking cities around the world with toxic smoke — not only killing wildlife and destroying habitats —
Not only that, but *also* thawing ancient tundra and releasing previously trapped methane into the air, adding to the vicious cycle of more warming, more fires, more warming, more fires...
_________________________
Chunks of carbon-rich frozen soil, or permafrost, undergird much of the Arctic tundra. This perpetually frozen layer sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, sometimes storing it for tens of thousands of years beneath the boggy ground.
The frozen soil is insulated by a cool wet blanket of plant litter, moss and peat. But if that blanket is incinerated by a tundra wildfire, the permafrost becomes vulnerable to thawing. And when permafrost thaws, it releases the ancient carbon, which microbes in the soil then convert into methane — a potent greenhouse gas whose release contributes to climate change and the radical reshaping of Northern latitudes across the globe.
Wildfire’s impact on frozen permafrost propels a climate feedback loop: Wildfires release methane, which accelerates climate change, which causes more frequent wildfires — and repeat.
_________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.popsci.com/environment/wildfires-are-thawing-the-tundra/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency