India, Jan. 20 -- Research finds that Arctic permafrost thawed in the past as well when there was no sea ice, leading to global temperature rise

A recent study makes a disturbing connection between the loss of Arctic sea ice and thawing of permafrost in the region, with global implications.

Researchers found that loss of sea ice was the primary driver of thawing permafrost throughout Earth's climate history.

"The study shows that permafrost in the Siberian region was thawing intermittently during the period when Arctic summer sea ice was absent (between 1.5 and 0.4 million years ago)," Anton Vaks, researcher at the Geological Survey of Israel in Jerusalem and the lead author of the study, told Down To Earth .

"After 0.4 million years ...