ENVIRONMENT INTEL Arctic Permafrost Thaw Accelerating Carbon Release Cycle Arctic permafrost contains roughly twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere—approximately 1,700 gigatons—locked in frozen soil for thousands of years. Current thaw rates have doubled since the 1990s, with some regions warming 3-4 times faster than global average temperatures. As thaw accelerates, microbial decomposition releases both CO2 and methane, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop that amplifies warming independently of human emissions. This represents a critical tipping point: once initiated, permafrost carbon release becomes difficult to reverse, potentially adding 0.13-0.27°C of warming by 2100 even if humanity achieves net-zero emissions, fundamentally altering long-term climate projections and adaptation timelines.