Peat-Covered Soil Collapsing into a Thermokarst Bog (IMAGE)

DOE/Joint Genome Institute

Peat-Covered Soil Collapsing into a Thermokarst Bog

Caption

This photo shows frozen peat-covered soil collapsing into a thermokarst bog. With global temperatures projected to rise over the coming centuries, the frozen Arctic soils may thaw completely, potentially causing the largest contribution of carbon transferred to the atmosphere by a single terrestrial process. To better characterize the microbial activities in the permafrost, scientists from the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science user facility managed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and the United States Geological Survey, reported on the application of multiple molecular technologies.

Credit

Mark Waldrop, USGS

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