PLUME AND DOOM

IN THE ARCTIC, THAWING PERMAFROST IS UNLEASHING CLOUDS OF PLANET-HEATING METHANE. SCIENTISTS RELY ON AN ARSENAL OF TECH TO GET A HANDLE ON JUST HOW NASTY THE PROBLEM IS.

- MATT SIMON

COVERED IN NETTING TO DEFLECT STRAY BALLS. THESE INSTRUMENTS GATHER METHANE DATA ON THE SEVENTH HOLE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN GOLF COURSE.

AT THE MIDNIGHT SUN Golf Course in Fairbanks, Alaska, they say you never get the same shot twice. That's because the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet, and as the underground permafrost thaws, it deforms the course's fairways. This express defrost unlocks ancient organic matter-a-lot of it. (The world's permafrost holds twice as much carbon as is currently in the atmosphere.) Microbes feed on that liberated matter and fart out plumes of methane, a gas that's 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. And as thawing permafrost releases more methane, it raises global temperatures-which thaws more permafrost, which releases more methane. It's the dreaded climate feedback loop, and scientists are using an array of tech to better understand it.

AN ICE ARCH ON ALASKA'S CASTNER GLACIER. THE ARCTIC IS LOSING ICE NOT JUST FROM ITS MANY GLACIERS BUT ALSO FROM THAWING PERMAFROST.