The effects of thawing permafrost on climate change

In central Siberia the ground can even freeze to a depth of more than 1,500 metres. The interaction between climate change and permafrost is the focus of research by Professor Hans Wolfgang Hubberten, director of the Potsdam research unit of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). When permafrost thaws, previously frozen micro-organisms suddenly become active and begin to transform carbon compounds stored in the soil into methane, watervapour and carbon dioxide, all of which intensify the greenhouse effect. So far these processes have only partially been incorporated into climate models. Now teams from 18 partner institutions are performing ground measurements and remote sensing campaigns in various regions of the Arctic in order to determine the amount of greenhouse gases released as the permafrost thaws. This EU project, called PAGE21, is being coordinated by Professor Hubberten. For more than 15 years, the AWI team has been studying permafrost processes at the German-Russian Samoylov research station in the Lena Delta. “Here, too, climate change is clearly making itself felt. Between 2006 and 2011, researchers measured a temperature rise of up to 0.5 degrees Celsius, even at depths of 18 to 26 metres in the frozen soil,” says Hubberten. The research findings of PAGE21 will flow into the 5th Assessment Report of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

AWI/Red.