ARCTIC CARBON MAY WORSEN CLIMATE CHANGE

Potential hazard: The Arctic contains over 1.5 trillion tonnes of frozen carbon.

Vast amounts of carbon, about twice as much as contained in the atmosphere, are stored in the Arctic, according to a new study. The amount of carbon in the Arctic raises new concerns over the role of the northern regions as future sources of greenhouse gases.Carbon in permafrost is found largely in northern regions including Canada, Greenland, Mongolia, Russia, Scandinavia and the U.S.

Pep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project at Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia, and study co-author 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.

“Radioactive carbon dating shows that most of the carbon dioxide currently emitted by thawing soils in Alaska was formed and frozen thousands of years ago. The carbon dating demonstrates how easily carbon decomposes when soils thaw under warmer conditions,”