B083-02
Biogeochemical risks and impacts of Arctic permafrost degradation

Monday, 14 December 2020: 05:33
Virtual
Kimberley Rain Miner, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, Charles E Miller, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, Merritt R Turetsky, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, Annett Bartsch, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, Johanna Tamminen, Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki, Finland, Andreas Fix, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, Colm Sweeney, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States and Arctic Methane Challenge
Abstract:
Climate change is accelerating permafrost degradation throughout the Arctic, introducing both known and unknown risks to the global environment. Biogeochemical hazards from permafrost degradation has been noted in the literature over the last 20 years and represent a great diversity of potential risks. Among them, the emergence of methanogenic bacteria, unclassified viruses, bacteria, and pathogens notably bring uncertain paleo-ecosystem impacts into the modern age. These species join a variety of known Arctic hazards, including the release of banned pesticides, mercury, and nuclear remnants previously sequestered in permafrost. However, variability within Arctic permafrost environments introduces additional uncertainty in the location, timing, and rate of emergence for these hazards. Our work identifies the emergent hazards, pathways of exposure and socio-environmental impacts that could result over the next 10-50 years.
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