A group of scientists released the findings of their long term study this month on the Canadian Arctic permafrost and how it is thawing 70 years earlier than expected.
What We Know:
- According to Times, “Researchers discovered that a series of unusually warm summers triggered the rapid thawing, which is occurring 150 to 240 precent above the average rate between 1979 to 2000.”
- The purpose of the research is to gather baseline measurements in three areas that did not previously have any data regarding permafrost.
- The researchers would visit the site once every three years to examine the rate the permafrost is thawing. University of Alaska Fairbanks geophysics professor Vladimir E. Romanovsky told Reuters, “I was shocked to see that land frozen for 1,000 or more years is thawing so quickly.”
- The climate change has become problematic. Since the 1950s, ocean temperatures have increased much faster than previously anticipated by researchers, Time said.
The climate is now warmer than it was in the last 5,000 or more year.
