New paper finds thawing permafrost may act as a sink instead of a source of greenhouse gases

Unsettled science: A paper published today in Nature challenges the long-held assumption that melting permafrost will result in a positive feedback from increased release of greenhouse gases, finding instead "that lakes that formed in thawing permafrost thousands of years ago have accumulated vast amounts of plant remains in sediments at their bottoms, building up a large carbon sink that has had a cooling effect on climate."