Tibetan Permafrost Degradation

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The Tibetan Mountains and Plateau is sometimes called third pole, and per the linked Glacier Hub article, permafrost degradation is making a significant contribution to alpine lake expansion in the Himalayas; which will likely increase both CO₂ and CH4 emissions:

http://glacierhub.org/2015/01/14/permafrost-melt-poses-a-greater-threat-than-glacial-melt-in-the-tibetan-plateau/

Extract: "According to a recent study published in the journal Public Library of Science, glacial melt is taking a backseat in the Himalayas to permafrost melt as a central driver of alpine lake expansion and related environmental hazards. This finding is of great importance to policy-makers and communities, who must prepare for flooding and other hazards which can be caused by the expansion of high-altitude lakes."

See also:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111890#s2

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The linked reference, with an open access pdf, indicates that more work is need before models can provide reliable projections of the rate of Tibetan permafrost degradation:

Wang, W., Rinke, A., Moore, J. C., Cui, X., Ji, D., Li, Q., Zhang, N., Wang, C., Zhang, S., Lawrence, D. M., McGuire, A. D., Zhang, W., Delire, C., Koven, C., Saito, K., MacDougall, A., Burke, E., and Decharme, B.: Diagnostic and model dependent uncertainty of simulated Tibetan permafrost area, The Cryosphere Discuss., 9, 1769-1810, doi:10.5194/tcd-9-1769-2015, 2015.

http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/9/1769/2015/tcd-9-1769-2015.html