More areas of year-round unfrozen ground have begun dotting Interior and Northwest Alaska and will continue to increase due to climate change. The spread of taliks–volumes of unfrozen ground within areas of permafrost–has major implications for the movement of carbon among organisms, minerals and the atmosphere. Taliks will also increase development of thermokarsts, areas of sunken land formed by permafrost thaw. The rate and extent of permafrost degradation is probably going to accelerate as talik development really kicks in. Current assessments and projections about permafrost thaw are underestimating the extent of the thaw because they don’t include the impact of widespread talik formation. As far as I can tell, the IPCC hasn’t taken this into consideration, and that could be a real problem.
Story Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220607121021.htm