Arctic  Carbon  Warning  Network

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CO2

CARBON
DIOXIDE

METHANE

CH4

EACH Methane
MOLECULE
WARMS THE EARTH
20 TIMES MORE
THAN A MOLECULE
OF CARBON DIOXIDE.

ABOVE:  Possible future worlds
of increasing methane and carbon
dioxide emissions from permafrost.

Which way our planet goes depends on the climate change path set by people and the response of the Arctic landscape to ecosystem change

THE ARCTIC IS WARMING FASTER THAN ANYWHERE ON EARTH.

Methane and carbon dioxide are being released into the air from permafrost (perennially-frozen) ground in tundra and boreal forest ecosystems.

These gases are adding to those from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation elsewhere, accelerating the greenhouse effect that is already warming the planet.

Abrupt permafrost thaw
can degrade permafrost and mobilize
organic carbon much faster than would occur
from just a gradual increase in temperature alone.

Research agrees that slowing human carbon emissions will help to keep more permafrost carbon frozen and will dampen this accelerating feedback to climate change.

Society must have knowledge about the amount of methane and carbon dioxide escaping from permafrost so that emission policies can be tuned accordingly.

Reducing emissions, slowing climate change, and observing Arctic carbon fluxes will help to avoid carbon cycle surprises and tipping points.

The ARCTIC CARBON WARNING NETWORK (AWARE) is built to create real-time snapshots of Arctic methane and carbon dioxide emissions so that this threat remains on the radar.

Individual research sites around the northern region monitor greenhouse gas exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere. Linking these sites together as an observation network for Arctic carbon emissions is a powerful synthesis science approach for creating new knowledge.

Permafrost currently exists on land and under the shallow Arctic ocean in areas that were previously all exposed during the last Ice Age.

Methane and carbon dioxide can be released to the atmosphere by microbes decomposing organic matter, or as physically-trapped gases are warmed and permafrost degrades.

All illustrations © Victor O. Leshyk

The Arctic stores thousands of years of ecosystem carbon in frozen soils. Keeping this carbon in place helps keep our world farther from the worst “tipping points” of global warming. In our current window for climate action and stewardship, the AWARE network helps keep our finger on the pulse of Arctic change.

Get in touch

AWARE Project Lead:
Ted Schuur

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