Thread by @ClimateBen

Permafrost:

1. We're set for massive, rapid releases of carbon from 2035

2. A catastrophic boost in global warming of 0.4 - 0.8°C within decades is feared

3. Thawing is occurring 70 years earlier than expected in some areas

4. Slashing emissions immediately is our only hope

“We may start to see widespread degradation in permafrost … somewhere in the timescale of 20–30 years,” Vladimir Romanovsky, a permafrost expert at the University of Alaska, said.

From April 2017.

grist.org/article/arctic…

'Thawing permafrost will release carbon to the atmosphere that will have an appreciable additional effect on climate change, adding at least one quarter of a degree Celsius by the end of the century and perhaps nearly as much as one degree.'

archive.thinkprogress.org/carbon-feedbac…

'Our analysis points out that the permafrost carbon feedback adds to this another 0.4 to 0.8°C warming'.

huffingtonpost.ca/andrew-weaver/…

'melting in permafrost regions due to rising temperatures will release 68–508 pgC by 2100...

Without considering the effects of anthropogenic emissions...melting permafrost alone will cause a temperature increase of 0.13–1.69 °C by 2300.'

From June 2017. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

'Arctic permafrost now melting at levels not expected until 2090' independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…