Melting Tundra Raises Climate Scientists’ Concerns

Country:

United states

Author:

Daniel Grossman
Southeast Asia RJF Advisory Committee Member

English

Release of a relatively small fraction of it could dramatically speed up climate change. Researchers...

Daniel Grossman
Southeast Asia RJF Advisory Committee Member

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Melting tundra raises climate scientists' concerns | WBUR

Professor Ted Schuur, a geography professor at Northern Arizona University, stands by the central-Alaska plot of tundra that he’s been heating for the last 13 years. The several feet of permafrost has melted, collapsing the soil, creating a pond. Some of his clear plastic boxes, used for measuring carbon dioxide emitted from underground, are visible in the foreground. Image by Daniel Grossman. United States, 2021.

The climate is changing faster than many scientists expected. Among the worrisome indicators: more than 4 million square miles of carbon-rich frozen soil in and around the Arctic.

It's been frozen for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. But in some places, it's beginning to thaw.

Reporter Daniel Grossman visited Alaska and talked with two scientists who say if that trend continues, the outcome could be catastrophic. Listen to the audio of his report above.

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