Arctic landscapes in a warming climate – Witnessing the big thaw

While society debates the causes of mankind’s most recent fingerprint on the planet, rising temperatures threaten ice-rich ecosystems in the Arctic. Microbes are poised to feast on organic matter long frozen in permafrost. Landscapes, once held together by a matrix of soil and ice, are also being transformed, further contributing to carbon cycle feedbacks to climate. Indigenous people are keenly aware of these and other changes taking place in the world around them. Their human experience adds breadth to scientific depth and thus enriches the global change discussion.