The melting of the permafrost - another risk of climate change

Percolating through seawater

Among the multitude of impacts of climate change, rising temperatures and increased CO2 emissions, one of the other lesser known results is the release of methane from the permafrost regions of the Northern hemisphere. Research in 2010 in the East Siberian Artic Shelf identified methane concentrations eight times higher than the rest of the Artic Ocean and almost a hundred locations of higher methane release. The unlocking of methane in the permafrost, should it occur at a higher rate due to higher temperatures would lead to a warming in the atmosphere which would be impossible to stop.