BRT has discussed how feedback loops amplify events like climate change ad nauseam with loss of albedo being one and now another, thermokarst lakes, a relatively unknown entity that could amp global warming in ways that truly boggle the mind.
However, in the presence of thermokarst lakes, permafrost thaws deeper and more quickly. Thermokarst lakes form when substantial amounts of ice in the deep soil melts to liquid water. Because the same amount of ice takes up more volume than water, the land surface slumps and subsides, creating a small depression that then fills with water from rain, snow melt and ground ice melt. The water in the lakes speeds up the thawing of the frozen soil along their shores and expands the lake size and depth at a much faster pace than gradual thawing.
Photo shows what appears to be permafrost thaw ponds in Hudson Bay, Canada, near Greenland. (By inspection this photo appears to match a location at 66°11′10″N 73°26′42″W in Dewey Soper Migratory Bird Sanctuary on Baffin Island, overlooking the waters of the Hudson Bay near Greenland)
The horse is out of the barn, don't you think?
The horse is out of the barn, don't you think?
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