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| Sat, 4th Jul 2020 14:12:00 |
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Climate crisis: Thawing Arctic permafrost could release deadly waves of ancient diseases, scientists suggest |
Disturbing things are happening in the Arctic.
In the last fortnight a devastating heatwave has seen temperatures in Siberia reach a record 38C (100.4F), meanwhile, vast fires are burning, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and dramatically illustrating the vicious circle of climate breakdown.
As climate scientists ponder whether these extremes portend the dawn of a terrifying new era of supercharged heat in the Arctic, the planet also remains gripped by the coronavirus pandemic.
It is at this pivotal moment a startling new risk could also be unleashed upon the world – one which binds together both the implications of an overheating planet and the tragedy of a highly contagious disease.
Scientists have said the rapidly warming climate in the far north risks exposing long-dormant viruses, which may be tens or even hundreds of thousands of years old, and have been frozen in the permafrost in the Arctic.
Due to the rapid heating – the Arctic is warming up at least twice as fast as the rest of the world – the permafrost is now thawing for the first time since before the last ice age, potentially freeing pathogens the like of which modern humans have never before grappled with.
Jean Michel Claverie, a virologist at Aix-Marseille University, told Greenpeace’s investigative journalism outfit Unearthed: “The idea that bacteria can survive for very long I think is definitely accepted. The remaining debate is for how long? Is it a million years? 500,000 years? Is it 50,000 years?”
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