The Debt That Comes Due When the Ice Melts
Beneath Arctic permafrost lies a bank of frozen carbon that, if released, could rewrite the math of every climate plan. This episode follows the long-term monitoring at the Yakutsk research station to understand how local feedbacks like thermokarst and taliks are accelerating the thaw, and explores the 'unallocated emission' problem facing the Paris Agreement.
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Borehole data shows ground temperatures in Yakutsk reaching minus zero point two degrees Celsius.
Taliks act as thermal bridges that funnel heat deep into permafrost layers.
Meltwater ponds create feedback loops by absorbing solar energy and releasing methane.
Permafrost emissions are currently unallocated in national carbon inventories and international treaties.
Current climate models likely underestimate the impact of rapid permafrost thaw feedbacks.
Thawing soil releases between three and forty-one gigatonnes of carbon per degree of warming.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Sentinels of the Cold2 min
- 03The Feedback Engine3 min
- 04The Unallocated Debt3 min
- 05The Sovereignty of Thaw2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- Microsoft Word - 5-APS-2024-0036_new_.doc
- A comprehensive analysis of three meteorological datasets ...
- Borehole «Spasskaya 1» (at site «Yakutsk», Russia) active
- Site «Yakutsk» (Russia)
- Soil Temperature Station Data from Permafrost Regions of Russia ...
- Supporting users of the IPCC GHG Guidelines
- Review of permafrost science in IPCC's AR6 WG1
- [PDF] The Paris Agreement | UNFCCC
- Global Warming of 1.5 ºC —
- Paris Agreement - United Nations
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