What Happens in the Arctic is What the Rest of the World Can Expect
An Interview with Kelcy Kent
Kelcy Kent is a “triple Hoo” at the University of Virginia. She double majored in Environmental Sciences and Biology (with a concentration in conservation), completed an M.S. in coastal & molecular ecology (Environmental Science) studying population genetics in mangroves along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and is now working on her Ph.D. in Arctic ecology. Her primary focus is examining how ice wedge degradation and permafrost thaw affect nutrient distribution and subsequent changes in Arctic vegetation, with hopes of finding patterns in how the Arctic will respond to warming on local scales.
How does permafrost thaw relate to climate change?
Permafrost is perennially frozen ground (it does not thaw during the summer) that underlies roughly 24% of the exposed land surface of the Northern Hemisphere — it is comprised of frozen peat, mineral soils and rocks, and ground ice deposited during the Pleistocene. The Arctic’s permafrost harbors 1330–1580 Pg of carbon in the form of frozen soil organic matter and detritus — this estimate amounts to roughly half of the global soil organic carbon and nearly double the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere! This makes Arctic permafrost an enormous and valuable…
