U of A Professor - Rate Of Permafrost Melting "Unbelievable"; AK Temps Up From -8.5C To -2.5C

One of the world's leading experts on permafrost has told BBC News that the recent rate of warming of this frozen layer of earth is "unbelievable". Prof Vladimir Romanovsky said that he expected permafrost in parts of Alaska would start to thaw by 2070.

Researchers worry that methane frozen within the permafrost will be released, exacerbating climate change. The professor said a rise in permafrost temperatures in the past four years convinced him warming was real.

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Worries over the current state of permafrost have been reinforced by Prof Romanovsky. A professor at the University of Alaska, he is also the head of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost, the primary international monitoring programme. He says that in the northern region of Alaska, the permafrost has been warming at about one-tenth of a degree Celsius per year since the mid 2000s.

"When we started measurements it was -8C, but now it's coming to almost -2.5 on the Arctic coast. It is unbelievable - that's the temperature we should have here in central Alaska around Fairbanks but not there," he told BBC News. In Alaska, the warming of the permafrost has been linked to trees toppling, roads buckling and the development of sinkholes. Prof Romanovsky says that the current evidence indicates that in parts of Alaska, around Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope, the permafrost will not just warm up but will thaw by about 2070-80. "It was assumed it would be stable for this century but it seems that's not true any more," he told BBC News.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34540414