Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is being undertaken by the Met Office and the Natural Environment Research Council on the effects on the global and Arctic climate, including the global temperature rise, caused by the melting of the Arctic permafrost.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is currently funding research into Arctic permafrost through the Arctic Research Programme and the Joint Programming Initiative – Climate (JPI-Climate). The Arctic Research Programme is undertaking research on the release of greenhouse gases from permafrost and how these emissions will influence global warming, and on the interaction between permafrost, greenhouse gases and vegetation in the Arctic:

http://arp.arctic.ac.uk.

JPI-Climate is a collaboration between 14 European countries. They are researching uncertainties in the permafrost-climate feedback, and biogas production from permafrost:

http://www.jpi-climate.eu/news-events/news/ninecollaborativeresearchprojectsawarded.

The Met Office is working with the University of Exeter and the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology to improve the representation of permafrost within the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator, the land surface scheme of the UK Earth System Model (UKESM). The UKESM is a collaboration between NERC and the Met Office.