We know that the earth warmed up a bit in the last 30-40 years – it was not as much as the model used by IPCC predicted but it did warm up. Researchers in Canada’s Arctic say that warming there has been more than elsewhere and in fact has been about 2.5 Celsius.
Let’s assume that this warming was caused by the sun’s cycle although if you believe all the hypothetical science pushed by Al Gore et al that it was caused by man, that does not affect the key point, that the arctic has got warmer somehow. And according to these researchers, this warming is, not surprisingly, melting the permafrost in the arctic tundra. That’s in the land way to the north – mostly in Canada and Russia.
Permafrost in the Arctic
Locked in the permafrost is a very large amount of Carbon dioxide so when the permafrost warms up, the CO2 is released. Further, when the CO2 is under water (e.g. in a lake or river or just a swamp), bacteria converts the CO2 to methane which is a lot worse than CO2 as a global warming gas. So arctic warming happening for whatever reason causes release of large quantities of greenhouse gases. The top 10 feet of permafrost (it’s 160 to 2000 feet deep) holds about the same amount of carbon as is currently in the atmosphere.
So that would explain global warming from historical times – that is, a relatively small change in the sun causes release of methane and CO2 which makes the warming greater. This becomes a positive feedback and makes the whole thing happen quite quickly. It does not depend on anything men do but it is a greenhouse effect. Research suggests that this did in fact happen.
For a more complete description of all this with the latest update, go here.
The lesson here? We should focus on adapting to warming and not pretend we can stop it. And depending on what the sun does, this whole cycle could still reverse. The release from the permafrost only happens in mid-summer – a few good winters would stop it.
Tags: Arctic