The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Abrupt thawing and thermokarst, which is a fast process of permafrost degradation but varies significantly depending on local conditions, can emit substantial amounts of carbon to the atmosphere very quickly, even in a matter of days. These processes risk mobilising the deep, legacy carbon sequestered in yedoma. Yedoma is a type of permafrost that formed between 1.8 million and 10 000 years ago, and is particularly rich in organic material, so a significant source of atmospheric methane. A paper published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment describes how scientists from Europe and the US are working together to better tracking permafrost carbon dynamics. This includes gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to abrupt thaws, the use of key observations of carbon release and developing models to predict permafrost–carbon feedback.
Read full story: Permafrost thaw: it’s complicated