Hakai Magazine quotes Kelley in article on dangers of melting permafrost

Joseph Kelley, a professor of marine geology at the University of Maine, was quoted in a Hakai Magazine article about the unknown dangers melting permafrost carries for Arctic marine life. Concentrations of mercury in marine mammals in the Arctic are 10 to 12 times greater than they were in the preindustrial period, according to a 2017 report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. The report also warns that the thawing of large areas of high-latitude frozen peatlands could release globally significant quantities of mercury into Arctic lakes, rivers, and oceans, according to the article. Kelley, a sediment expert, said movements of soil into the sea get “reworked by waves, for months perhaps, and will lead to enhanced turbidity which is local or even regional in scale.”