Melting permafrost reveals unprecedented risks for the Arctic

Permafrost is a solid underground layer in the planet's coldest regions. It comprises dirt and organic matter held together by ice under layers that freeze and unfreeze with passing seasons.

However, rising global temperatures are causing permafrost to degrade, creating new threats to Arctic regions and threatening the environment and the communities that depend on this stable ground.

Permafrost has been a carbon sink for millennia, trapping greenhouse gases inside the ice. Melting permafrost could release vast amounts of these gases, accelerating global warming.

The release of gigatons of gases will not only impact the regions where permafrost is located but will also aggravate climate change globally.

According to the BBC, Permafrost acts like the planet's freezer: It keeps matter cold and stable, but when the ice melts, bacteria start decomposing the materials, just like food outside the fridge.

When the bacteria decompose the organic matter and dirt trapped in the ice, it releases CO2 and methane, increasing climate change. This, in turn, melts more Permafrost, and the cycle repeats.

Still, researchers know very little about how serious the problem is, and how much gases the layer could release. Experts told the BBC it is difficult to predict because the layer is underground.

However, an international research team found that permafrost in Siberia and Canada will melt 20% faster than previously estimated. The finding, published in Nature Climate Change, underlines the potential speed at which the melting is occurring.

Still, the melting Permafrost is not only a climate issue. According to National Geographic, people in the Arctic regions are facing consequences related to infrastructure, food, water, and health.

The magazine said that the collapse of the stable, solid layer could cause vital infrastructure like roads and pipelines to break down, affecting the region's nearly 3 million inhabitants.

The thawing of permafrost is already causing tangible damage: giant sinkholes, fallen telephone poles, damaged roads and runways, and fallen trees, the magazine said.

Transporting goods depends on ice roads and frozen rivers. Premature thawing can isolate communities, hampering access to essential supplies. It can also destabilize the ground under cities like Russian Yakutsk, the largest city built on permafrost.

According to National Geographic, the destruction of the solid layer could also destabilize abandoned industrial sites in Canada, pouring the toxic chemicals they store into water fountains.

Still, that is not the only threat to water sources. Underwater permafrost melting in Siberia, seeped the water into the ground, causing droughts in the region. Parts of its tundra are turning into muddy landscapes.

The destruction of ecosystems like that threatens access to essential natural resources for Arctic communities, such as hunting and fishing, which are vital for survival.

According to DW, the Batagaika crater, formed by melting permafrost and aggravated by deforestation, has become one of the most representative images of the issue in Siberia.

Photo: NASA Earth Observatory / Jesse Allen / USGS

In addition, experts are concerned that melting permafrost could release unknown bacteria and viruses. Reintroducing these microbes could affect human health, they wrote in Communications Earth and Environment.