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Permafrost in arctic is thawing due to climate change which is discharging greenhouse gases that is further adding to the problem of global warming, according to a study released on Thursday.

As the frost in Arctic thaws, the alteration in the functioning of soil microbes and the way soil carbon is decomposing is supplementing the carbon dioxide emission and methane into the atmosphere, as per the study led by Chinese and US scientists. As methane and carbon dioxide are the core greenhouses gases that capture heat, it may be accelerating the climate change even more, reports The Daily Star

Permafrost, also known as everlastingly frozen ground, covers a quarter of Northern Hemisphere, mainly in Arctic, according to the study published in monthly Nature Climate Change journal.

The researchers working in Alaska warmed certain areas of Tundra so as to thaw the permafrost. The scientists noticed a change in the soil microbes after 18 months. "This study highlights the critical role that microbes play in mediating carbon losses from Arctic soils," said Susan Natali, a scientist at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts and co-author of the Nature Climate Change paper, in a statement.

"The rapid response of the microbial community to warming suggests that the large store of soil carbon currently contained in permafrost will be highly susceptible to decomposition once it is thawed."

There are many studies in the past that suggest that permafrost will decline as much as 70% by the end of this century, revealed a statement, as reported by Manila Bulletin