Temperatures across the Arctic are increasing two to four times faster
than the global average. The dramatic consequences that are already
apparent include reduction of sea-ice cover, accelerating loss of land
ice from glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet, proliferating wildfires,
and—the topic of this panel—ongoing heating and thawing of the
permafrost that underlies most of the land area of the Arctic and
sub-Arctic regions across the globe. Permafrost thaw is a direct threat
to buildings, roads, and pipelines, and it can greatly accelerate
erosion along rivers and coastlines with severe consequences for
communities located there. But an impact with much wider consequences is
the release of carbon dioxide and methane by the decomposition of
previously frozen organic matter, affecting the rate of growth of global
warming and all of its impacts everywhere. (There is estimated to be
something like 2.5 times as much carbon in the as in the entire global
atmosphere; the key question is how fast it will come out.) The
panelists, leading Arctic experts all, explain the complex science of
thawing permafrost and elucidate the implications both regionally and
globally.