Accelerated arctic warming: increasing permafrost thaw and CO2

Rapid Arctic sea ice loss could triple the rate of warming over northern Alaska, Canada and Russia and trigger permafrost thawing that unleashes extremely potent greenhouse gases (MSNBC).  The image above shows simulated autumn temperature trends during rapid sea-ice loss. The accelerated warming signal (red to dark red) reaches 900 miles inland. The image at right shows milder but still substantial warming rates.

Climate models showed that when sea ice melts quickly, the rate of Arctic land warming is 3.5 times greater than the average 21st century warming rates predicted in climate models. Experts believe that the even worst consequences of accelerated arctic warming would be unleashing of vast amounts of CO2 and methane to the atmosphere.  

Lead author of the study is David Lawrence from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the paper  was just published in Geophysical Research Letters on June 13, 2008.