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Nature reflects our nature
Permafrost
Ground permanently frozen for years may sound outlandish or a scene from some over the top sci-fi movie but there are places where the soil is bounded together by ice and remains at a chilling temperature of 0 0 C or below 0 0 C for years , called permafrost . Permafrost simply doesn ’ t mean ice-covered land , to be permafrost , a layer below the Earth surface must at least be frozen for two years . The thickness of permafrost can range from 1 meter to 1,000 meters . It covers approximately 22.8 million square kilometers in the Northern Hemisphere of which the majority are found in the Arctic region .
As we store our food products in a refrigerator , plants and animal remains are preserved in permafrost since the decomposition process is halted due to cold temperature . This helps the scientist to gather information about Earth ’ s biological and geological history . Since the carbon-based organisms have persevered it is estimated that the world ’ s permafrost holds around 1,500 billion tons of carbon .
Permafrost is sensitive to change in temperature and as our global greenhouse gas emission has increased so has the global temperatures . It is said that global temperature is rising by 0.2 0 C per decade since 1981 . This change in temperature may seem insignificant but its effect on permafrost is detrimental . Ice binds the soil together as the ice melts , the ground becomes unstable causing erosion , landslide , and flood . In some parts of Siberia , the ground has collapsed hundreds of feet . These depression caused by collapsed permafrost forms ponds providing water to the wildlife but if the permafrost keeps on melting it can drain the vary pond dry . Landslides and erosion from thawing permafrost pollute streams with sediments , this destroys Arctic biodiversity . We know that permafrost holds twice the amount of carbon than the atmosphere currently so defrosting of permafrost can release tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causing global temperature to surge to an unprecedented level . Along with carbon , old carcasses are also exposed to the elements . These can aid in the resurgence of disease-causing viruses and bacteria which were frozen for hundreds of years in the permafrost , for instance in 2016 dozen people were hospitalized on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia because 75 years old anthrax infected reindeer was exposed . Destruction of permafrost doesn ’ t affect the Arctic region alone it affects can be felt far and wide . Permafrost also accounts for 0.022 % of total water so thawing of permafrost means an increase in sea level which threatens coastal plant life and wildlife as the rising sea level erodes shoreline .
So , we must limit our global greenhouse gas emission to decrease the annual rise in temperature to preserve permafrost . If we fail to do so , permafrost has the potential to increase sea level , heat the atmosphere rapidly and introduce old virus capable of killing millions .
Ishan Subedi Environmental Science
Batch 2018
88 Year Book of Environmental Science