A review by government and group of experts on permafrost carbon problem has been published in journal Nature.

The paper is an outcome of the Permafrost Carbon Network, which has studied changes in the Arctic for four years. The network consists of more than 200 scientists from 88 research institutions in 17 countries.

According to the researchers, frozen Arctic and sub-Arctic soil that melts from global warming will release significant amounts of carbon in the form of both carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

This new source of greenhouse gas emissions could destabilize attempts to cut down on emissions from fossil fuels considerably. However, the researchers mentioned that this would not happen abruptly.

The experts concluded that harmful carbon dioxide and methane generated by microbes digesting defrosted plant and animal material will instead enter the atmosphere gradually.

Dave McGuire, a senior researcher at the US Geological Survey and a professor of ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said, “The estimates that we came up in this synthesis suggest that throughout the rest of this century, it could be on the order of the magnitude of what tropical deforestation currently affects the global carbon cycle”.

Burning of fossil fuels is the major factor behind Global warming. Tropical deforestation, the clearing of dense rainforest in order to harvest timber or to create urban areas is the reason behind one-tenth of the warming. Now, a significant amount is anticipated to be matched by the effects of melting permafrost.

Permafrost in Alaska, Russia and other Arctic regions has warmed nearly 11 degrees in the last 30 years. It climbed from an average temperature just under 18 degrees to just over 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

The researchers are trying to gauge how much carbon is contained in permafrost, how fast it's likely to be released and in what form.