num_pages: 176
description: Explores a little-known yet critical aspect of climate change Features the Polaris Project led by the prestigious Woods Hole Research Center Accessible science and inspiring photos bring the topic to life Permafrost--dark ice-flaked permanently frozen ground that lies under tundra and boreal forests across our northern regions--covers more than 12 percent of the earth's land mass. It exists in places that seem otherworldly and unimaginably remote to most of us but the changes taking place in the permafrost layer may ultimately affect the lives of every person on Earth.In The Big Thaw readers meet a diverse team of scientists and students who have been studying the permafrost and what lies beneath: a vast store of ancient carbon more than four times the quantity found in all of today's forests which is releasing carbon dioxide and methane as the permafrost melts. The release of all this carbon would alter Earth's climate forever. Braving endless hordes of mosquitoes quicksand and extreme temperatures the researchers are racing against the clock to educate us all about the changes we must make in order to preserve Earth's carbon balance.
language: English
title: The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World
publisher: Braided River