Study finds 63 billion tons of carbon in Arctic deltas

Technology Jun 23, 2026

A new study says Arctic river deltas are holding about 63 billion tons of carbon in their frozen soils, carbon that has been stuck there for thousands of years.
As the region warms up, this trapped carbon could escape into the atmosphere, adding more greenhouse gasses and making climate change worse.
The researchers took more than 1,600 soil samples from places like Siberia's Lena River and Canada's Mackenzie River to figure this out.

Deltas store 5% of permafrost carbon

Even though these Arctic deltas cover just 1% of all permafrost areas, they store a surprising 5% of its carbon:
they also hold billions of tons of nitrogen that could mess with local ecosystems if released.