🧊🔥 New paper @natclimchange.bsky.social: After millennia as a carbon deep-freezer for the planet, a third of the Arctic-boreal zone is now a CO2 source to the atmosphere. The int’l research team was led by @annvirkk.bsky.social ⬇️ Learn more: permafrost.woodwellclimate.org/after-millen... - ThreadSky

permafrostpathways.bsky.social • 34 days ago

🧊🔥 New paper @natclimchange.bsky.social: After millennia as a carbon deep-freezer for the planet, a third of the Arctic-boreal zone is now a CO2 source to the atmosphere. The int’l research team was led by @annvirkk.bsky.social
⬇️ Learn more:
https://permafrost.woodwellclimate.org/after-millennia-as-carbon-dioxide-sink-more-than-one-third-of-arctic-boreal-region-is-now-a-source/

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permafrostpathways.bsky.social•34 days ago

Using troves of flux data from 200+ study sites across the Arctic-boreal region and #GIS data, the study represents the most comprehensive and current picture of the CO2 balance sheet in the north. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02234-5

permafrostpathways.bsky.social•34 days ago

Collaborative synthesis #science like this is crucial to understanding climate trends and advancing pan-Arctic monitoring efforts.
Congratulations @annvirkk.bsky.social @woodwellclimate.bsky.social & all co-authors, incl. @roseatmos.bsky.social @thissideofthearctic.org!
🗺️ by @gfiske.bsky.social

maxtide.bsky.social•33 days ago

thank you...

where is this update on the spectrum of
{still reverseable <--> self-reinforcing methane bomb}
?

the animated sink to source part... is that what it looks like each year? surely not just this past year...

permafrostpathways.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thanks for your questions!
Animation shows avg monthly fluxes, 2001-2020.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere from anywhere makes a difference for northern ecosystems. The faster the global community slows and curbs warming, the more manageable future permafrost emissions will be.

maxtide.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thanks for the answers. And for your work.
Somewhat comforting.
Best wishes to you and yours.
:)

juanpineiro.bsky.social•30 days ago

But the paper actually says that the C sink of these biomes have been increasing in the last years, but wildfires reduce these sinks? Moreover, I am not sure authors shows the 30% land is a source of C was not there in previous years

robertferry.bsky.social•31 days ago

Incredible work and beautiful graphics in the article. Do we know approximately how many net tons of CO2 are being released in an average year by the Arctic-boreal zone?

robertferry.bsky.social•31 days ago

I think I get it. 1 TgC = teragrams of carbon = 1012 grams of carbon. So 600 TgC = 607,200 grams or .607 tons. Not much, but if it used to absorb three times that much the trend is going in a bad direction. Are these number right?

mikpetter.bsky.social•29 days ago

Sigh google search can’t death the exponent. It’s 10 to the 12th power or
Teragram
“For the purposes of national greenhouse gas inventories, emissions are expressedas teragrams of CO equivalent (Tg CO Eq). One teragram is equal to 10 E12 grams, or one million metric tons.”

thx1139.bsky.social•31 days ago

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/catastrophic-tipping-point-in-greenland-reached-as-crystal-blue-lakes-turn-brown-belch-out-carbon-dioxide?fbclid=IwY2xjawIA-05leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaXc0bXeI8388ALd7QKSj4uTRXAqIDZKx-2OsJABtkvaRXhr5dTAe39M4Q_aem_ETEYcpcrpnkewHWP1-V3JQ

annieleymarie.bsky.social•32 days ago

... but wrongly (according to climate scientists such as Gavin Schmidt) called a 'key tipping point' https://bsky.app/profile/climateofgavin.bsky.social/post/3lgbb7ppqos2o

andyscollick.bsky.social•31 days ago

I think there might be some confusion between "a" and "at"

annieleymarie.bsky.social•31 days ago

Didn't Gavin - and @jamesgyke.bsky.social - explain that it was an expected feedback and neither "a" nor "at" tipping point??

jamesgyke.bsky.social•31 days ago

This demonstrates that portions of the land-based carbon sink are slowing down - reducing the amount of carbon they remove from the atmosphere. Not a 'climate tipping point' as such, and not entirely unexpected. Still extremely worrying.

overshoot.bsky.social•31 days ago

😳

andyscollick.bsky.social•31 days ago

Expected feedback, yes. But as for tipping points, I don't know (been a busy week!). Anyway, the Arctic carbon sink (taiga forest, tundra permafrost and wetlands) is a dynamic system with numerous thresholds exhibiting nonlinear behaviours (tipping points), many of which interact: a complex. ..

andyscollick.bsky.social•31 days ago

There's plenty of uncertainties regarding what constitute thresholds, threshold behaviours and transition dynamics, how feedbacks interact to 'move' thresholds, how relative rate of anthropogenic change affects dynamics, and many other factors. https://report-2023.global-tipping-points.org/section1/1-earth-system-tipping-points/1-3-tipping-points-in-the-biosphere/1-3-2-current-state-of-knowledge-on-tipping-points-in-the-biosphere/1-3-2-2-boreal-forests-tundra/

andyscollick.bsky.social•31 days ago

So, I'm not clear why this isn't considered "a" tipping point, as the Arctic carbon sink system has many interacting tipping points. Or, indeed, how we can say with any certainty that we are "at", or not, or near or far, regarding the relative proximity to or within the complex of thresholds.

petethehawkeye.bsky.social•31 days ago

Plus, melting permafrost is releasing methane sequestered since the last ice age!

knowyouronion.bsky.social•30 days ago

📌

overshoot.bsky.social•31 days ago

📌

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