Study shows microbes may accelerate loss of permafrost in Greenland

http://phys.org/news/2015-04-microbes-loss-permafrost-greenland.html

by Bob Yirka
April 7, 2015

A small team of researchers working in Greenland has found that as microbes become active in permafrost, they produce heat, which can increase the rate of permafrost loss. In their paper published in Nature Climate Change, the researchers, affiliated with the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark describe simulations they created that showed possible impacts of microbe activation in permafrost areas.

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Suspecting that microbes in the soil might have an impact on warming permafrost, the researchers collected 21 samples of permafrost soil from six sites across Greenland. They then exposed the samples to different temperatures to see what happened. By carefully monitoring heat production by the microbes in the soil they were able to gather enough information to create a computer simulation. That simulation showed that as global temperatures rise, a feedback loop occurs in permafrost areas. Heat causes melting which paves the way for microbes, as they decompose organic material, they produce heat which adds to the increased temperatures, and on and on presumably until all of the material in the permafrost has been melted and decomposed, releasing massive amounts of carbon into the air far earlier than previous models have predicted.

The researchers also note that as the northern regions warm, evidence left behind over thousands of years by people venturing into the region will begin to decay as well as it begins to thaw along with the permafrost.

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