The degree to which thawing permafrost will accelerate global warming is explored in  “As Permafrost Thaws, Scientists Study the Risks,” the New York Times article that references a recent study to which Phil Camill, Bowdoin’s Rusack Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Earth and Oceanographic Science, and director of  the Environmental Studies Program, contributed.

Camill is one of 41 scientists from around the globe forming the Permafrost Carbon Research Network, which met this summer. Their findings were published in the journal Nature and cited in media outlets across the country.

“They estimated that if human fossil-fuel burning remained high and the planet warmed sharply, the gases from permafrost could eventually equal 35 percent of today’s annual human emissions,” reports the Times.