Among the most rapidly changing parts of our planet are the coldest landscapes near the top of the globe, just south of the Arctic. This region is warming two to four times faster than the global average.
The frozen ground beneath these “boreal” forests and treeless plains or “tundra” is thawing, fast. That’s a problem because the permafrost holds enormous amounts of vulnerable carbon, more than twice as much carbon as is already present in the atmosphere. Some of that carbon is now on the move.
