Photo by paoloverzone Anne Morgenstern, a geoscientist at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), stands on an eroding ice-rich permafrost deposit on Kurungnakh Island, in Siberia, Russia. New studies by AWI have determined that even permafrost currently very cold could be gone near the surface by the end of this century. "Abrupt thaw processes could potentially increase total permafrost carbon emissions by 40 percent," said Guido Grosse, head of AWI's permafrost research division. #permafrost. Follow paoloverzone for more photos and stories and awiexpedition for polar research stories.