Of far more concern are the methane hydrates trapped in the arctic, both in the permafrost and also on the sea floor. The stability of these compounds is governed by temperature as the clathrate compounds are formed of a frozen water lattice trapping the potent green house gas methane. AS temperatures rise the methane is released and there is a vast reservoir of it that could potentially melt. This would not merely add to our carbon footprint as more like drown it in a huge lake.