CO2 and forgotten viruses: permafrost is "a Pandora's box
While the rules of application of the Paris Agreement were adopted at the COP24 in Poland, Siberia or Canada the permafrost continues to thaw. This soil layer contains huge amounts of carbon and viruses that are potentially dangerous for humans.
The effects of global warming are multiple: rising temperatures, glacier melt, rising sea levels, drought, changes in biodiversity, human migration, etc. Of all these current and future disasters, there is one major, currently taking place in Alaska, Canada and Russia. Under the most optimistic scenarios, by 2100, 30% of permafrost could disappear. Started several years ago, the thawing of this geological layer, composed of ice and organic matter, threatens to release astronomical amounts of CO2, potentially leading to an even bigger and faster global warming than expected. Permafrost also preserves many viruses, forgotten or unknown. In 2016, a child was killed by anthrax. The anthrax virus had been released following the thaw of an old 70 reindeer corpse!
To study the risks related to thawing of permafrost, we asked for the lighting of two specialists. Florent Dominé, on the one hand, is a researcher, director of research at the CNRS. He works at the Takuvik International Joint Unit, a partnership between Laval University in Quebec City (Canada) and the National Center for Scientific Research. His activities are concentrated mainly in the Canadian Arctic where he works on climate issues and in particular on the transformation and thawing of permafrost. On site, he also studies the evolution of vegetation and biodiversity. In addition, concerning the issue of viruses, we have called on Jean-Michel Claverie, professor of medicine at Aix-Marseille University, director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Mediterranean and the Genomics and Structural Information Laboratory. In 2014, he and his team discovered two new viruses, giant viruses, dated 30 000 years, in Siberian permafrost.
A reservoir of greenhouse gases
Permafrost is a vast territory. Its area is estimated between 10 and 15 million square meters (between 20 and 30 times the size of France). Permafrost is found in northern Canada, Alaska, and northern Siberia. Depending on the area, the depth of this layer varies: from a few meters to about a kilometer in some parts of Siberia where the permafrost has been maintained for millions of years. According to some studies, these layers of soil contain billions of tons of carbon. An analysis confirmed by the researcher Florent Dominé:
Permafrost contains ice and organic matter, mainly from the partial decomposition of plants. This organic material is largely carbon. There is approximately twice as much carbon in permafrost than in the atmosphere. This carbon, when it is frozen, is not very accessible to bacterial mineralization. Bacteria can feed on this organic material as soon as it is thawed. And there, the bacteria will be able to metabolize it and turn it into CO2. This carbon dioxide will then escape into the atmosphere and potentially increase the levels of this greenhouse gas.
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