It’s a Science Blog! Part One: The Arctic, permafrost, and carbon

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word, Arctic? My guesses are… cold, snow, polar bears, and Santa Claus. Was I far off? Probably not, because these are the things that used to come to my own mind when I pictured the top of the world. But after a couple summers spent above the Arctic circle in Siberia and now in Sweden, the first words I think of are: mosquitoes, sun, hot, water, life, and beautiful.  Pretty different, huh? My experiences have led me to split the term “Arctic” into these two separate trains of thought- the north pole and polar bears in one category and the mosquitoes and sun into another category some refer to as the sub-arctic.

The technical cut-off for the Arctic Circle is 66° 32" N (if these numbers don’t make any sense, just check out the map below). You can think of this line as the boundary where the sun is up all summer and completely below the horizon for part of the winter. I have experienced the former and await the latter.... Cherskiy, Russia, my previous Arctic hub, and my new home in Abisko, Sweden lie just above this line. Both are in the Arctic, but, just not quite at the North Pole.

A map outlining the boundaries of the Arctic Circle. Abisko is at the top of the light peach region, while Cherskiy sits in the yellow region nearest to Alaska.
Image from osu.edu

Abisko and Cherskiy undergo a “growing” season during the summer, unlike the North Pole part of the Arctic. During this time there are green trees, abundant plants, flowers, birds, lemmings, and even some large mammals like moose, bears, and reindeer. Though snowy patches may be scattered throughout the mountainsides, the landscape is mainly snow and ice free. At the surface that is.  

It's a bird. In some grass. In Siberia.
Photo Cred: John Schade

Abisko in mid August.

Both areas experience effects of the freezing cold winters, all year long. The remnants of winter can be found just below your feet in the form of permafrost- ground that is frozen all year round. Permafrost is prominent throughout the Arctic Circle in both large, continuous formations, as well as smaller scattered patches. Cherskiy resides on top of a continuous zone of permafrost (everywhere you walk there is permafrost beneath), while Abisko sits on top of a discontinuous zone (think- some permafrost surrounded by ground that isn’t completely frozen all year long).

A map showing the distribution of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere. The dark purple represents zones of continuous permafrost while the lighter purple colors represent zones of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost.
Image from ipa,arcticportal.org

So… why all this talk about frozen ground? It’s just dirt, right? Wrong! Within the frozen Arctic soils are large quantities of really old plants that we call carbon and organic matter. And this old organic matter has been frozen in the permafrost for thousands of years. Till now. Increasing global temperatures are slowly thawing out the frozen ground, providing a food source to tiny organisms that eventually release the chewed on organic matter into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. Just like the gases that are produced from the fossil fuels burned in your car, these gases act to trap heat in the atmosphere and increase global temperatures. In short, already warming temperatures thaw permafrost, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which further increases global temperatures that thaw yet more permafrost and release more greenhouse gases- a cycle known as a positive feedback loop.  However, right now, the magnitude and exact details of the effects of this feedback loop on the world’s climate aren’t well known. But a lot of people are trying to figure that out, one small piece of the puzzle at a time. I am also trying to place a piece of the puzzle, but more on that later.

A simple diagram showing the positive feedback loop of warming temperatures and permafrost thaw.

On the next edition of “It’s a Science Blog!” look forward to methane, mooing, and mires. If you have had too much science for one blog (though I find this a hard feat to manage), you can rest easy knowing that I have a trip to Norway coming up that will most likely occupy some blog time with pretty lakes, old viking relics, and fjords. Fewf.