RadioFreeEurope is reporting that the Siberian tundra is melting. New lakes are forming, existing lakes are getting bigger and houses built on the permafrost are starting to sink.

What is especially scary is that the rate of warming is expected to increase. As the permafrost melts, it releases methane gas which is considered to be 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Recent studies have found that the warming is causing five times as much methane to be released than was previously thought.

Current climate change models have not been updated to take into account the increased methane release. It seems to me that this is just another tipping point that will accelerate the effects of global warming if we don’t do something now.