--- title: Three things you should know about permafrost | daily.dev description: Permafrost, the frozen soil under about 15% of Northern Hemisphere land, is thawing and releasing carbon dioxide and methane as microbes break down ancient... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Three things you should know about permafrost | daily.dev og:description: Permafrost, the frozen soil under about 15% of Northern Hemisphere land, is thawing and releasing carbon dioxide and methane as microbes break down ancient... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/FQBjJ2UEF.png og:image:alt: Three things you should know about permafrost og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Three things you should know about permafrost **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Permafrost, the frozen soil under about 15% of Northern Hemisphere land, is thawing and releasing carbon dioxide and methane as microbes break down ancient organic matter. Arctic permafrost's footprint has already shrunk about 12% since 1850. Only a minority of UN climate models account for gradual permafrost loss, and none include abrupt thaw from heat waves or fires, meaning warming projections likely underestimate the real pace. Wildfires accelerate thawing and could release the equivalent of 80 billion metric tons of CO2 by century's end. Permafrost holds about 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, roughly twice what's in the atmosphere, though northward-migrating plants may offset some of the released carbon. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much carbon is stored in permafrost compared to the atmosphere? Permafrost holds about 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, roughly twice the amount currently in the atmosphere. This carbon has been locked away for thousands of years in frozen organic material, much of it dating back to the last ice age. As permafrost thaws, microbes break this material down, releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. _Anyone tracking climate data trends can follow science reporting like this on daily.dev._ ### Do UN climate models account for permafrost thaw? Only a minority of models used in UN climate reports account for the gradual loss of permafrost, and none include abrupt thaw and collapse triggered by events like heat waves and fires. This gap means current projections likely underestimate how much and how fast the planet will warm. Efforts are underway to reflect the growing science in future UN reports. _Readers following climate modeling gaps can keep up with the science on daily.dev._ ### How much could wildfires in boreal forests add to permafrost carbon emissions by 2100? Wildfire-accelerated permafrost thaw could release the equivalent of 80 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by the end of the century. Fires are becoming more intense due to climate change and speed up thawing of the frozen soil beneath boreal forests in places like Alaska and Canada. Researchers are mapping burn risk and carbon vulnerability to identify the most at-risk areas. _Those monitoring climate feedback loops can track this kind of research via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How to study a swiftly melting climate disaster](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-study-a-swiftly-melting-climate-disaster-evkedqwem) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Our climate models have a big, dangerous blind spot](https://daily.dev/posts/our-climate-models-have-a-big-dangerous-blind-spot-icvcc69g2) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Inside the quest to combat Arctic fires and save the planet’s frozen carbon](https://daily.dev/posts/inside-the-quest-to-combat-arctic-fires-and-save-the-planet-s-frozen-carbon-pdoclgksv) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Wadler's Blog: The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing the World's Climate](https://daily.dev/posts/wadler-s-blog-the-gargantuan-lie-that-is-collapsing-the-world-s-climate-wljkj9b84) · Planet Haskell · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Climate change may produce “fast-food” phytoplankton](https://daily.dev/posts/climate-change-may-produce-fast-food-phytoplankton-rcfd70rou) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Three things you should know about permafrost","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef"},"datePublished":"2026-10-22T10:10:11.307Z","dateModified":"2026-10-22T10:10:43.571Z","description":"Permafrost, the frozen soil under about 15% of Northern Hemisphere land, is thawing and releasing carbon dioxide and methane as microbes break down ancient...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ce0094c084c714ceecf2cd1199e6bb15?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ce0094c084c714ceecf2cd1199e6bb15?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT Technology Review","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT Technology Review","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a8d03889722f4f22b3986e0b395ff076","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT Technology Review","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Three things you should know about permafrost"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/three-things-you-should-know-about-permafrost-fqbjj2uef#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much carbon is stored in permafrost compared to the atmosphere?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Permafrost holds about 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, roughly twice the amount currently in the atmosphere. This carbon has been locked away for thousands of years in frozen organic material, much of it dating back to the last ice age. As permafrost thaws, microbes break this material down, releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Anyone tracking climate data trends can follow science reporting like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Do UN climate models account for permafrost thaw?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Only a minority of models used in UN climate reports account for the gradual loss of permafrost, and none include abrupt thaw and collapse triggered by events like heat waves and fires. This gap means current projections likely underestimate how much and how fast the planet will warm. Efforts are underway to reflect the growing science in future UN reports. 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