LOS ANGELES — UC Irvine scientists conducted research at Toolik Lake in Alaska where they found that a common ecosystem called the “tussock tundra” had turned into a year-round source of ancient carbon dioxide because permafrost is thawing buried underneath the snow.

The Arctic is warming anywhere from double to four-times the global average from human-caused climate change.

With the discovery that deep snow is driving the thawing of long-frozen permafrost carbon reserves, this is leading to an even larger increase of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane.