Ancient carbon emissions have been recently observed in the Canadian Arctic region. According to the study’s authors, carbon is released from the soils, permitting the scientists to draw one single gloomy conclusion – the melting of the permafrost may exacerbate the problem related to global warming.
Ancient carbon emissions were discovered in the Northwest Territories of Canada
The researchers are still discussing the amount of the ancient carbon that’s emitted from the terrains of the Arctic region of Canada.
“I would say if you’re looking at anything pushing several hundred years old to a thousand years old, then you have to start wondering whether that should be coming out of this kind of system,” said Joshua Dean, a professor at the Vrije University and the study’s leading author.
A group of scientists from the UK and the Netherlands observed overflowing ancient carbon in the waters of the Northwest Territories of Canada.
The scientists have published their discovery in the journal Environmental Research Letters, where the report can be found in totality.
The research findings are disturbing
According to a reportage conducted by The Washington Post, the researchers were optimistic they will measure the exact level of carbon emissions they’ve found in the Arctic Canadian regions’ waters.
However, the scientists admitted that further analysis of the samples is needed to measure if the depicted carbon levels are either normal or in excess.
According to Anna Liljedahl, a professor at the University of Alaska, “a mixing of soil layers due to seasonal freeze and thaw process, brings old carbon up and young carbon down into the soil column.”
According to the scientists who discovered the ancient carbon emission in the Arctic regions of Canada, the research can’t explain if the soils there were decayed to emit more ancient carbon than normal but, after all, the study’s findings are disturbing.
