Permafrost may nearly disappear by 2100

The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., says global warming may destroy most permafrost across the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers said warming may decimate the top 10 feet or more of perennially frozen soil, altering ecosystems as well as damaging buildings and roads across Canada, Alaska, and Russia.

New simulations from NCAR show more than half of the area covered by the topmost layer of permafrost could thaw by 2050 and as much as 90 percent by 2100. Scientists expect the thawing to increase runoff into the Arctic Ocean and release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

The study is the first to examine the state of permafrost in a global model that includes interactions among the atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice as well as a soil model that depicts freezing and thawing.



http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1070150.php/Permafrost_may_nearly_disappear_by_2100

Christmas in Alaska. Don't count on it taking until 2100. Its already beginning here. They are moving villages because of this. If you love this earth, call your congress people and have them help fillibuster the ANWR and get on the Kyoto stuff. Our lives and our children's lives do depend upon it. The polar bears are already drowning.

I KNOW I could go out and dig a hole now. It should never be possible. 2100 is optimistic.

this week end. They are still blooming though I don't think it will be long before
a good frost gets them.
(some call them lima beans- summer crop- never had them this late before)

The feedback from the methane release out of the permafrost will profoundly alter the weather patterns of this planet. It is way too late to do anything about it. We are in for a hell of a time.

Even if we were to stop all emissions today, the changes we have set in motion are not going to stop. The time for talking and the time for preventative action are over; it's time to start preparing for the times ahead.

True, however, most don't want to believe this. Amazing, it isn't going to be a meteor or some other cataclysmic event...We have done this to ourselves.

I don't trust the estimates that place severe climate in the latter half of this century; I think the changes will be much sooner than that. Part of me wants to see what happens, because I'm curious about cataclysmic events. On the other hand, I can't say that living long enough to participate in this "experiment" is an attractive prospect.

"We are so fucked."

The fossil fuel exploitation, that is causing climate change is dependent on permafrost for all the arctic oil and gas exploration, pipeline integrity, ice roads and drilling platforms. It is hard to explore or bury a pipe in shifting muck.

so very very sad. in three generations the caribou will have the same status as the woolly mammoth today, extinct



crap I am depressed, and it is only Tuesday

I figure a major break in the Alaska pipeline is imminent.

As the Gulf Stream slows down, it's supposed to get colder in the northeast part of our continent.
Have you noticed anything?

of this week, that the House passed?

I would think the warming in that area would make it very difficult to produce the oil;
and cause major environmental problems with the drilling.