These are potent greenhouse gases that can further accelerate climate change.
In June 2022, a gold miner in the Canadian Yukon made a remarkable discovery: the exceptionally well-preserved frozen remains of a woolly mammoth calf that had died 30,000 years ago. This find is far from unique, as the Arctic holds many buried secrets. About 15% of the Northern Hemisphere contains permafrost - ground that has been frozen for at least two years, and sometimes much longer - with the oldest permafrost yet discovered located in the Yukon, and having been frozen for 740,000 years. Its thickness ranges from 1 meter in some areas to over a kilometer in others, and it is exceptionally good at preserving biological remains.
In 2016, another gold miner encountered a 7-week-old grey wolf pup that had been preserved in permafrost for 57,000 years, and in 2020, reindeer herders found remains that belonged to a cave bear, which had been extinct for 24,000 years. Even incomplete animal remains have yielded incredible results, such as in 2021 when researchers identified a new species of mammoth by reconstructing DNA sequences from 1.6-million-year-old mammoth teeth - making it the oldest sequenced DNA on record.
However, all these prehistoric remains, as well as much more, are at risk due to permafrost thawing rapidly. Climate change is warming the Arctic at 3 to 4 times the rate of the rest of the world, and an increased frequency in extreme weather events is burning the plants and soil that otherwise help to keep permafrost cool. This can lead to the ground fracturing and collapsing in on itself, flooding and erosion, and the formation of “drunken forests”. It can also trigger massive landslides and threaten critical infrastructure. By the year 2050, permafrost thaw may endanger 3.6 million people, including many Indigenous and First Nations people.
Permafrost also stores an estimated 1.6 trillion tons of carbon, which is more than double the amount in Earth’s atmosphere as of 2022. When it begins thawing, microorganisms decompose organic material more efficiently, releasing gases like carbon dioxide and methane which are potent greenhouse gases that can further accelerate climate change. A feedback loop is triggered when more greenhouse gases are released, causing the climate to warm and leading to more permafrost thawing and releasing even more gases. To preserve the snapshots of what the planet was like thousands of years ago, and to support life on Earth for thousands of years in the future, it is essential that the Arctic remains cool.