• COMMENT

Permafrost collapse is accelerating carbon release

The sudden collapse of thawing soils in the Arctic might double the warming from greenhouse gases released from tundra, warn Merritt R. Turetsky and colleagues.
By
  1. Merritt R. Turetsky

    1. Merritt R. Turetsky is a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin W. Abbott

    1. Benjamin W. Abbott is assistant professor of ecosystem ecology in the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Miriam C. Jones

    1. Miriam C. Jones is a research geologist at the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Katey Walter Anthony

    1. Katey Walter Anthony is associate professor of aquatic ecosystem ecology at the Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. David Olefeldt

    1. David Olefeldt is assistant professor of catchment and wetland science in the Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  6. Edward A. G. Schuur

    1. Edward A. G. Schuur is professor of ecosystem ecology in the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  7. Charles Koven

    1. Charles Koven is a staff scientist in the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  8. A. David McGuire

    1. A. David McGuire is emeritus professor of ecology at the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  9. Guido Grosse

    1. Guido Grosse is professor for permafrost in the Earth system at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  10. Peter Kuhry

    1. Peter Kuhry is professor at the Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  11. Gustaf Hugelius

    1. Gustaf Hugelius is a senior lecturer at the Department of Physical Geography and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  12. David M. Lawrence

    1. David M. Lawrence is a senior scientist in the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  13. Carolyn Gibson

    1. Carolyn Gibson is a PhD Student in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  14. A. Britta K. Sannel

    1. A. Britta K. Sannel is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Physical Geography and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Soil erosion due to permafrost thaw in the Batagaika crater in eastern Siberia

The Batagaika crater in eastern Russia was formed when land began to sink in the 1960s owing to thawing permafrost. Credit: Yuri Kozyrev/NOOR/eyevine

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This much is clear: the Arctic is warming fast, and frozen soils are starting to thaw, often for the first time in thousands of years. But how this happens is as murky as the mud that oozes from permafrost when ice melts.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 569, 32-34 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01313-4

Disclaimer: Any use of trade, product or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US government.

References

  1. Schuur, E. A. G. et al. Nature 520, 171–179 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Olefeldt, D. et al. Nature Commun. 7, 13043 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. McGuire, A. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 3882–3887 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Strauss, J. et al. Earth-Sci. Rev. 172, 75–86 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Walter Anthony, K. M. et al. Nature Commun. 9, 3262 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Abbott, B. W. & Jones, J. B. Glob. Change Biol. 21, 4570–4587 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Koven, C. D. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 373, 20140423 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rogelj, J. et al. in Global Warming of 1.5 °C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Ch. 2 (IPCC, 2018).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Nitze, I., Grosse, G., Jones, B. M., Romanovsky, V. E. & Boike, J. Nature Commun. 9, 5423 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Treat, C. C. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 4822–4827 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Vonk, J. E. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 2689–2693 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Abbott, B. W., Jones, J. B., Godsey, S. E., Larouche, J. R. & Bowden, W. B. Biogeosciences 12, 3725–3740 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Laudon, H. et al. Nature Geosci. 10, 324–325 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing