Permafrost Releasing Greenhouse Gases as it Thaws(0:41)

Permafrost Releasing Greenhouse Gases as it Thaws(0:41)

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Thawing Permafrost, Healthy Anger, Understanding Trauma

Episode: Thawing Permafrost, Healthy Anger, Understanding Trauma

  • Nov 29, 2019 11:00 pm
  • 13:38 mins

Guest: Jordan Wilkerson, PhD Student in Atmospheric Chemistry, Harvard We’ve got a feedback loop going on in the Arctic where, as the atmosphere warms, the permanently frozen ground there is thawing. As it thaws, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (AKA laughing gas) escape into the atmosphere, where they cause further warming, which thaws more permafrost, which releases more greenhouse gas and round and round. Only now are researchers getting a grasp on how fast that cycle is going. An atmospheric chemistry lab at Harvard just published some data showing there’s a lot more nitrous oxide escaping the permafrost than previously thought.