Thawing of Arctic permafrost could release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, and with recent Arctic warming stronger than was predicted, it is important to establish the vulnerability of permafrost to future warming. Here, Orjan Gustafsson and colleagues show that extensive release of carbon from outcropping Ancient Ice Complex deposits and associated shallow subsea permafrost dominates the sedimentary carbon budget of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. The study suggests that a significant amount of old carbon is activated from ice-complex permafrost, with about two-thirds of this old carbon escaping to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and the remainder being reburied in shelf sediments.
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