This earth gets warmer day by day and we know that. The rising temperature was even the reason why this site was built in the first place. We want to inform everyone about the changes happening on earth, and how do we contribute so much to it.
For a note, the first thing we need to realize is that we contribute so much to global warming. While the second is, by so much, we mean 90% or even more. And the very last thing you need to know, we cannot stop the changes instantly, but we can bring back the good old stabile temperature with some efforts.
How to do that? Let us introduce you to earth poles, the ones responsible for keeping the temperature of earth stable. Yes, both our planet’s poles, the north and the south, are responsible for that incredible job. However, both of them are now dying from our irresponsibility.
Don’t you know that both of our poles are starting to thaw? Researchers discovered that some of arctic areas are no longer freezing even in winter. Can we help to stop it?
Permafrost
This recent finding is a huge thing, since the thawing of some arctic areas happen in places which used to be permafrost areas. The lands which used to be freezing since humans first laid a glance to them are starting to lose their icy characteristics. How can’t it be a huge news?
There are two things to be noted from the thawing of arctic permafrost. First, the thawing is an evidence that something is really happening, and it happens at alarming rate. What’s actually happening is no other than global temperature rise.
While global warming happens due to excessive amount of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, the thawing results in more greenhouse gasses being released to our atmosphere. If we keep letting this permafrost thawing grow, we have to fight even harder to bring this earth back to its good old state.
Second, permafrost areas are trapping massive amount of greenhouse gasses and saving this earth ‘a few minute’ from total disaster caused by global warming. And with this thawing, it means that both our poles which used to be loyal to us by keeping the temperature stabile and hide greenhouse gasses well are starting a ‘rebellion’ against us.
Simply said, our enemies are multiplying greatly due to this phenomenon. Our earth is getting warmer faster nowadays. If we don’t do anything about this, immediately, we might have to surrender this war and let humanity get ruined by the nature, specifically the global warming.
The Layers
The discovery of arctic permafrost thawing was actually an accident. 200 miles north of arctic circle, at far eastern Russian town of Cherskiy, researchers Sergey and Nikita Zimov found unusual slushy and muddy turf when conducting their data collection about arctic permafrost.
The upper layer ground in the area indeed used to thaw during spring, and freeze solid during the winter. However, at certain depth of the ground, the thawing has never happened. The turf was supposed to be slushy and muddy, but not that much.
According to Zimov’s study, the discovery was a sign that winter re-freeze in 2017-2018 did not happen so well that it could not penetrate the deeper layer. It resulted in a condition of ‘thawed ground sandwich’ between the surface layers and even deeper permafrost layers.
Researchers assumed that similar condition also happened last winter, but in more severe state. The thawed ground, that didn’t freeze well, then acted as a medium to transfer heat into even deeper layers of the ground which gives the sandwich more ‘fillings’ in following year on.
“It is a big change. Is it across the Arctic? Is it going to happen this year? Those are the big questions. But it is a striking change,” said Max Holmes, deputy director and senior scientist at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts to NBC.
Do We Need More Snow?
So, knowing the fact that some of our permafrost are thawing, do you think we need more snow to fall down the next winter? You may pick ‘yes’ for the answer due to simple logic. Surprisingly, the correct answer might be ‘no’.
Zimov predicted that such condition was the result of unusually large amount of snow falling in the region last winter. He assumed that thicker snow covering the ground might have acted as an insulator which trapped heat in the thawing ground.
Some other researchers are being skeptical about this view, since there is still no accurate data provided about the correlation between those two. His work has not been peer-reviewed as well, nor being published officially.
But looking on how igloos can provide warmth for the users, this kind of makes sense. Zimov’s assumption is also supported by earlier works of Vladimir Romanovsky, researcher from University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Stating that too many snow can indeed entrap heat underground.
In addition, indeed global warming can produce more snow in the atmosphere by contributing to more ocean evaporation. That’s why researchers hope that the next winter there will only be enough snow to make the temperature cooler, not to entrap the heat underground.
10 Degrees Increase
Mathias Goeckede , biogeochemical systems researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, has been drilling the permafrost at arctic areas for years. He and his team have been spending weeks each summer to track carbon exchange between earth and atmosphere there.
And last year, they found similar thing as what Zimov discovered: an increase in underground temperature. At the depth of 13 inches, there has been about 10 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature increase in the same area they have observed in the last five years.
“This is just one site, and it’s just five years, so this really should be considered just a case-study. But if you assume it’s a trend or that it might continue like this, then it’s alarming,” said Goeckede to National Geographic.
He said that it resulted in a latter freeze-up. “For all years before 2014, the complete freeze-up of the active layer would happen in mid-January. Since 2014, the freeze-up date has shifted to late February and even March,” said Goeckede.
If this is not enough evidence of global temperature rise, then what is? Do we have to wait for arctic permafrost to thaw completely and release all of its greenhouse gasses before we finally realize what’s happening?
Sources
Leave a Reply