Characterizing permafrost microbes in a changing climate
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 13:00
in Earth & Climate
In the effort to curb climate change by reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, thawing permafrost poses a critical challenge. These reservoirs of frozen organic matter embedded in Arctic soils are one of the major (~1.5 billion tons) stores of carbon on Earth. One of the abiding concerns regarding permafrost is that as global temperatures rise, as is projected over the coming centuries, soils may thaw completely. This event has the potential of causing the release of this carbon in the form of the potent greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, resulting in the largest contribution of carbon transferred to the atmosphere by a single terrestrial process.