The amount of frozen carbon stored in the arctic region is more than double the previous estimate. According to a study published by the Global Carbon Project, the amount of carbon in frozen soils, sediments and river deltas as permafrost in the arctic and boreal regions is over 1.5 trillion tons. This is about twice as much as the carbon contained in the atmosphere.

Dr. Pep Canadell, Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project at CSIRO, Australia, and co-author of the study says that the existence of these super-sized deposits of frozen carbon means that any thawing of permafrost due to global warming may lead to significant emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane.

Carbon deposits frozen thousands of years ago can easily break down when permafrost thaws, thereby releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, according to another recent study by some of the same authors.

“Permafrost carbon is a bit of a wildcard in the efforts to predict future climate change,” said Dr Canadell. “All evidence to date shows that carbon in permafrost is likely to play a significant role in the 21st century climate given the large carbon deposits, the readiness of its organic matter to release greenhouse gases when thawed, and the fact that high latitudes will experience the largest increase in air temperature of all regions.”

Carbon in permafrost is found largely in northern regions, including Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Scandinavia, and the USA.

The carbon assessment is published this week in the journal of Global Biogeochemical Cycles of the American Geophysical Union, and the radiocarbon study was recently published in the journal Nature.


-  Katrice R. Jalbuena

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Sources:

¹ http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/global/pdf/Tarnocai_2009.GCP_Press%20Release.pdf
² http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm