Methane Bomb in the Arctic
Permafrost – ice in polar regions that remain throughout the year – is melting. In addition to having an impact on surface structures, like creating drunken forests, the permafrost has also been trapping enormous pools of methane, another potent global warming pollutant that is 21 times more effective than carbon dioxide in warming the climate.
With the permafrost thinning and melting, this stuff is now being released into the atmosphere. If all the permafrost would melt, atmospheric methane would increase by a factor of 10.
With an estimated 5.6 billion tonnes of methane in the atmosphere now, such a release would be the global warming equivalent of releasing 1.2 trillion tonnes of CO2.
How many tonnes of carbon dioxide are in our atmosphere now? 760 billion.
Watch more alarming evidence of global warming from Al Gore’s talk at this year’s TED conference:
