Fig. 5: Estimated permafrost thawing and carbon affected under warmer climatic conditions. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Estimated permafrost thawing and carbon affected under warmer climatic conditions.

From: Alpine permafrost could account for a quarter of thawed carbon based on Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimate analogue

Fig. 5

a Estimates of permafrost destabilisation and associated organic carbon from circumarctic and alpine permafrost regions in mPWP-like and pre-industrial(PI)-like climatic conditions. In a mPWP-like climate, around ~20% of circumarctic permafrost (containing ~253 Pg of carbon) would cross the 0 °C isotherm compared with ~60% of alpine permafrost (containing ~85 Pg of carbon). b Proportion of carbon in the circumarctic and alpine permafrost regions in modern climate and the proportion of carbon in the circumarctic and alpine permafrost regions in a mPWP-like climate (assuming total mineralisation of thawed carbon). Note that although the total amount of carbon in the alpine permafrost region is ~13% of total carbon trapped in modern permafrost, the ~85 Pg of carbon exposed to thaw from alpine permafrost represents ~25% of the total exposed carbon from permafrost in a mPWP-like climate. The error bars shown in b represent the 1σ error of amount of permafrost carbon with the calculation details shown in Supplementary Data 3. Region marked with 1–6 refers to the Tibetan Plateau-Pamir, Altai Mountains-Mongolia-Yablonoi-Sayan, Tian Shan, Rocky Mountains, Alps, and Caucasus, respectively.

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