Permafrost emits more carbon dioxide than all people on Earth

Research results from an international team suggest that the newly discovered phenomenon will

emit even more CO₂ thanpreviously assumed. It's all about the accumulation of carbon in permafrost. Previously it was believed that all this organic matter was firmly and reliably held by the soil and bound by iron.

Permafrost emits more carbon dioxide than all the people on Earth. We are talking about all anthropogenic emissions. It turned out iron is unable to store organic carbon.

Researchers have long known that microorganismsplay a key role in the release of CO₂ when permafrost thaws. Microorganisms activated by soil thawing convert dead plants and other organic materials into greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. Previous studies have shown that iron sequesters carbon even after permafrost thaws. However, new work published in Nature Communications,demonstrates that bacteria deprive iron of its ability to sequester carbon, resulting in the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Although the researchers studied only one swampzone in Abisko in northern Sweden, they compared their results with data from other parts of the northern hemisphere and expect the new findings to hold true in other permafrost areas around the world. Now the task of ecologists is to take into account this new source of carbon dioxide emissions, which needs to be included in climate models and studied more carefully.

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