WINGS Fellow Katey Walter-Anthony asssociate research professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks collecting data samples from an arctic thermokarst lake
WINGS Fellow Katey Walter-Anthony and lead researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Northern Engineering, announces that arctic thermokarst lakes become climate coolers on a long-term scale in a recent study. This is an extremely important scientific discovery because contrary to popular thought, evidence shows that these lakes caused by the melting of permafrost, don’t accelerate atmospheric warming but actually have the ability to stabilize climate change.
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“It is true that they do warm climate by strong methane emissions when they first form, but on a longer-term scale, they switch to become climate coolers because they ultimately soak up more carbon from the atmosphere than they ever release.”
Following the published study in the scientific journal Nature, by Katey Walter-Anthony and her fellow researchers, Phys.org has posted an article about the study on their website available here.
