Arctic Permafrost Carbon

(Bloomberg) — Arctic permafrost, the frozen soil beneath polar snow and ice, contains twice as much carbon as previously estimated and may spark a further increase in temperatures should global warming continue.

A study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO, showed a 10 percent reduction of permafrost through warming could add 80 parts per million more of atmospheric CO2, corresponding to a temperature gain of about 0.7 degrees Celsius (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

There is as much as 950 billion tons of carbon stored in Arctic organic matter, most of it long-dead vegetation, the United Nations Environment Programme says. The Arctic region already accounts for as much as a third of the world