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Permafrost that lives up to its name

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Ancient Canadian ice survived previous warm periods. A 740,000-year-old wedge of ice discovered in central Yukon Territory, Canada, is the oldest known ice in North America. It suggests that permafrost has survived climates warmer than today’s, according to a new study. “Previously, it was thought that the permafrost had completely disappeared from the interior about 120,000 years ago,” says Duane Froese, an earth scientist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who is the author of the study published today in Science. “This deep permafrost appears to have been stable for more than 700,000 years, including several periods that … Read more…

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The missing greenhouse gas

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Growth of the electronics industry will boost emissions of a ‘hidden’ — but extremely potent — greenhouse gas. Our insatiable appetite for gadgets — mobile phones, MP3 players and flat-screen TVs — may be adding a hidden greenhouse gas to the Earth’s atmosphere. Countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol committed to reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases: methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. But these aren’t the only climate-altering chemicals being produced by human activity. In the 13 years since the Protocol was first drawn up, scientists have discovered that other gases, such … Read more…

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Rapid Ice Retreat Threatens Arctic Interior

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Nature Reports: Climate Change The rapid decline of sea ice could accelerate inland warming over the Arctic region, radically transforming the landscape. One of the Northern Hemisphere’s natural cycles is the expansion and contraction of the floating Arctic ice cap. Typically, sea ice decreases during the Arctic summer, reaching a low in September, before recovering as temperatures drop in winter. From as far back as satellite measurements began in 1978 until 2000, the average sea-ice extent, or the area of ocean covered by at least 15 per cent ice, has routinely hovered around 7 million square kilometres during the summer … Read more…