OP-ED...Scarily close to the Permafrost Tipping Point

   by Julia Whitty

      Permafrost-the ground that stays frozen for two or more consecutive years-is a ticking time bomb of climate change.

   Some 24% of the Northern Hemisphere land is permafrost.  That's 9 million square miles (23 million square kilometers) found mostly in Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau, Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and other higher mountain regions.

    Unfortunately, thawing permafrost releases massive amounts of methane and/or carbon dioxide.

   The question is whether that would happen over the course of decades or over a century or more.

   for full post click here;

    http://www/motherjones/com/blue-marble/2013/03/were-getting-scarily-close-permafront-tipping-point