Study of Siberian permafrost caves shows global warming of just 1.5C 'would pump out a TRILLION tonnes of methane and CO2'

Gayle, Damien. "Study of Siberian permafrost caves shows global warming of just 1.5C 'would pump out a TRILLION tons of methane and CO2' | Mail Online." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2282750/Study-Siberian-permafrost-caves-shows-global-warming-just-1-5C-pump-TRILLION-tons-methane-CO2.html?ito=feeds-newsxml>. 

 

Global warming has been a very controversial issue in the past decade. According to this article, if the global temperature raises 1.5 degrees Celsius it would release huge amounts of greenhouse gases. The gases that would be released from the melting of many of the world’s frozen regions would include about 1000 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide and methane gases. Natural ecosystems and human infrastructure would be seriously disrupted by the release of these greenhouse gases. Governments around the world have set a goal to stop global warming at less than 2C higher than pre-industrial levels. Above this point, experts fear will make controlling the climate all but impossible. Even a global rise of 1.5C could bring a substantial thaw as far as north as 60 degrees latitude. The evidence of this comes from the study of stalactites and stalagmites in caves along the permafrost frontier of Siberia. The evidence showed that 400,000 years ago a temperature 1.5C warmer than it is today was enough to cause substantial thawing.

My first reaction to this is that I am a little nervous for the northern most countries and cities of the world. If there is a global thaw, it would not only raise the sea level, but also affect the infrastructure of many different animals that may not be able to survive without the arctic climate. I am also somewhat skeptical of this prediction, because no one can predict this one hundred percent, and it could not be that big of an issue. This article also gave me some hope because governments are starting to take a stand on the issue of global warming. They say that they will try to prevent the global temperature from rising 2C from the pre-industrial levels. If the governments work together to make our earth more green, then there may be some hope for the future generations that they won’t inherit a dying and CO₂ rich world.