As the Arctic warms, some of its lakes are bubbling…
Earth’s warming climate is thawing permafrost – the Arctic’s permanently frozen layer of soil.
As the permafrost thaws, microbes in the soil wake up and begin consuming once-frozen organic material.
This process releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
Scientists have known about this source of atmospheric carbon – a greenhouse gas – for some time.
They have predictions about how long it will take for the carbon stored in permafrost to reach the atmosphere.
Newly forming lakes in the region can throw a wrench in these predictions. Called thermokarst lakes, they form where thawed permafrost causes the ground to slump.
The lake water speeds up the thaw of surrounding permafrost, freeing methane…
which bubbles up through the lakes and enters the atmosphere, much sooner than previously expected.