![](https://climatechangephoto.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Alaska-Highway-Permafrost-Melt-Southern-Yukon-panorama-2400-px-FRT_7371-and-2.jpg)
- October 22, 2020
Viruses can survive for a million years in permafrost. Today, permafrost collapse is emitting 2.3 gigatons of CO2 annually average from 2003 to 2017. If permafrost was stable in 2003, and we know that warming and permafrost thaw are both accelerating today, this means the total CO2 emissions are far in in excess of the annual average from 2003 to 2017, plausibly rivalling emissions from all of transportation globally. Very important, methane emissions from collapsing permafrost are not yet quantified, the collapse is just too new. This collapse was on the Alaska Highway in Southern Yukon.