Scientists obviously weren’t excited about more carbon dioxide emissions, but it was better than the alternative: methane, a shorter-lived but far harder-hitting gas, which could cause faster bursts of warming. New research released Monday suggests that methane releases could be considerably more prevalent as Arctic permafrost thaws. But the fraction of that carbon that is emitted as methane, as opposed to carbon dioxide, will be crucial, she said, and remains to be determined. “We absolutely have to partition that total permafrost carbon release into those two forms, because it really matters,” Turetsky said. The soils could also become host to organisms that devour that methane — and turn it into carbon dioxide.

Source: Washington Post March 19, 2018 19:21 UTC