Melting ice releases GHGs on land
Increase in methane emissions in the Arctic tundra is correlated to melting sea ice, a new study shows.
The study from Lund University proves that changes in the marine environment can have significant effects on distant ecosystems on land.
The findings were recently published in the research journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The diminishing ices increase the absorption of heat in the Arctic sea, which creates a regional warming effect in the northern areas and, by consequence, rising methane emissions from the previously frozen tundra.
“While many previous studies have indicated that melting sea ices has an impact on the marine environment, there are only a few studies identifying how this affects the terrestrial ecosystems in the surrounding regions. Our research shows that we cannot study the sea and land environments separately if we want to understand the consequences of climate change,” says Frans-Jan Parmentier, who conducted the study, in an article on Forskning.se.
