Permafrost is melting, and the number of new plants emerging from the ice isn't enough to offset the carbon, according to a recent UF study.
The study shows that Arctic greening, or the thawing of permafrost, frozen layers of earth that are thawing due to climate change, is releasing more carbon than previous studies showed.
When greenhouse gases are released from thawing ecosystems, the temperature rises even more and leads to more thawing, according to Ted Schuur, a UF associate professor of ecology and the leader of the study.
"The process is comparable to a slow motion time bomb," Schuur said.
Schuur's research shows that the carbon is offset only initially, which differs from previous studies. The only way to ease the damage is by burning less fossil fuel, he said.
"If those ecosystems are far from human influence start releasing greenhouse gases as permafrost thaws, it will further contribute to changing the very nature of the planet we know everywhere," he said.
