Congratulations to Assistant Professor Dr. Elliott Skierszkan for leading a landmark paper in Science!
This study unveils rapid acidification of dozens of streams in northern Canada because of thawing permafrost. This process has produced visually striking “rusting” as downstream rivers turn bright red or milky white from mineral precipitation reactions, and is releasing CO2 that might amplify permafrost-climate feedbacks.
This research underscores an emerging new outcome of permafrost thaw that has implications for northern water and food security, mining exploration and regulation, fisheries and conservation, and land-use planning.
Read the full paper at Science, or the accepted version of the manuscript (open access) at EarthArxiv.
Media coverage can be found here: Globe and Mail video and article, as well as an article in Canadian Press
Elliott’s synthesis on LinkedIn summarizes key findings and implications.
