Quick talk with Dr. Rachel Treharne of the Woodwell Climate Research Center

Permafrost in the polar regions has been storing carbon for millennia. As the planet warms, permafrost thaw threatens to unleash that carbon back into the atmosphere, launching a potentially devastating feedback cycle that could accelerate warming even more. Yet that risk is not included in current global carbon budget accounting. I spoke with permafrost expert Rachael Treharne, from the U.S.-based Woodwell Climate Research Center, about what is at stake.

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