Global Warming & Permafrost Peatlands

In News

• A recent study warned that permafrost peatlands in Europe and western Siberia might be approaching their tipping point faster than expected.

Image Courtesy: Climate Energy 

Key Findings

• Northern europe: 
  • By 2040, northern Europe might become too wet and warm to support permafrost peatlands.
• Peatlands:
  • About: 
    • Peatlands are a class of wetlands, which are ecosystems flooded with water. 
  • Helps in carbon dioxide reduction:
    • Waterlogged conditions limit microbial decay of dead plant materials rich in carbon dioxide. 
    • This prevents the reintroduction of the gas into the atmosphere.
    • Peatlands, which occupy only 3 percent of the global land surface, store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.
  • Permafrost Peatlands:
    • Some peatlands are buried under frozen ground or permafrost and exist as permafrost peatlands. 
    • They are found in the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Russia and parts of northern Europe
    • Permafrost peatlands in Sweden, Norway, Finland and parts of European Russia, which are already seeing warmer temperatures, can reach their threshold before western Siberia

• Efforts lost: 
  • By 2060, areas of Europe and Western Siberia could lose 75 per cent under moderate efforts to mitigate climate change. 
  • The figure could go as high as 81 per cent and 93 per cent if the world does little to address the issue.

Problems

• Unsuitable conditions: 
  • Huge stocks of peat carbon have been protected for millennia by frozen conditions, but once those conditions become unsuitable, all that stored carbon can be lost very quickly
• Affecting climate change:
  • This could release carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, further accelerating climate change
• Threat to infrastructure:
  • Thawing permafrost could threaten buildings and other infrastructure standing above it. Sweden, Alaska and Canada in the Arctic are already witnessing this.

Way Ahead

• Strong climate change mitigation policies can limit or reverse the rate and extent at which Europe and western Siberia can lose the right climatic conditions to support permafrost peatlands.
• Peatlands should be kept in a frozen state. This scenario requires strict emissions targets to be met, reductions to the consumption of energy and materials, and a fast transition towards sustainable living.
• Field observations should be done in the peatlands to verify and understand them better.

Source: DTE