What Lies in the Melting Permafrost Worries Scientists

August 6, 2016 – If there is an unforeseen consequence to global warming it lies in the permanently frozen ground of the Arctic. At least it seemed that the ground would remain permanently frozen for the foreseeable future until recently.

Northern Siberia this summer has seen daytime temperatures at 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) degrees (10 Celsius or 18 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal). This is unprecedented warmth and along with it has emerged an outbreak of anthrax. As of August 2nd eight people were confirmed to be infected, 9 were being tested, one had died, and 2,300 reindeer had succumbed as well. The Russian government has sent in troops trained to combat biological warfare.

No scientist has yet declared that the anthrax rose from the melting permafrost but the coincidence of record warmth is not to be ignored. States Jennifer Francis, climate scientist from Rutgers University, “this is uncharted territory in the human experience, and especially the ecosystem is likely to respond in abrupt ways.”

Vladimir Romanovsky, climate scientist, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, theorizes that melting permafrost may have released anthrax buried in the biomass. The anthrax entered local water sources. He states, “we warned about it, several years ago…a kind of theoretical discussion.” Now we may be seeing theory turn to reality.

Climate change and disease spread go hand in hand. Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, and Malaria are mosquito-spread diseases finding new geography as the world warms. But biological agents and nuclear contamination buried in the permafrost and ice of the north during the height of the Cold War may soon find its way into the biosphere. Just this week Canadian scientists raised concern about nuclear contamination buried in Greenland ice that may soon emerge with the potential to threaten local wildlife on land and in the nearby ocean waters.

The anthrax outbreak may not have come from biological weapon caches. The disease could have come about naturally from an infected reindeer carcass or human remains emerging from permafrost-bound ground. The release of pathogens from permafrost has been the subject of scientific speculation for years. Siberia, Alaska and Canada could be harboring bacteria three million years old. We don’t know what impact these bugs when released from their icy prison will have on human and animal populations. We may have never encountered some of what will emerge.

States Francis, “the record-warm Arctic so far this year, which is probably a preview of a two-degrees-warmer globe, will spawn all sorts of surprises that we cannot foresee.”