Thawing permafrost may release heat, toxic mercury into Arctic: new research – Nunatsiaq Online
February 07, 2018
Ponds may be a “hidden source” of greenhouse gas emissions
Two new research studies reveal that melting permafrost in the Arctic may release more climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions and poison the Arctic environment by unleashing even more toxic mercury.
A new Canadian study has found that carbon released by some ponds in Nunavut’s High Arctic may be “a hidden source” of greenhouse gas emissions.
Water samples from 14 river and six pond sites collected in early August of 2014 and 2015 near the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory on Melville Island show how dissolved organic carbon stored in Arctic permafrost—thawing at an accelerated rate due to climate change—is being released into Arctic watersheds.
The chemical composition of carbon in the ponds was different than in rivers in the High Arctic, researchers from the University of Toronto reported in their study published in Environment Science and Technology
