The Earth’s melting permafrost is belching methane. We knew this to a certain extent, but the amount being emitted and expectations for future emissions all got turned up several notches thanks to new measurements. 

In a new paper appearing in Global Biogeochemical Cycles, researchers led by C.D. Elder found some regions of the Arctic are giving off as much as 24 grams of methane per square meter per day. Their study focused on the region near a thermokarst lake. The hotspots were associated with areas where the permafrost has recently melted. Using airborne detectors in combination with ground measurements, they determined: Hotspot emissions accounted for ∼40% of total diffusive CH4 emissions from the lake study site.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and this points to the terrible feedback loop where the melting of some permafrost will release gases that potentially lead to the melting of more permafrost and the release of even more methane, and the paper predicts the emissions will increase non-linearly in our warming climate.

More Information

“Characterizing methane emission hotspots from thawing permafrost,” C. D. Elder et al., 2021 December 2, Global Biogeochemical Cycles