Dear Jean,
Thanks a lot for your extensive reply! I just read through quickly and it looks like I will have to do quite a lot of further reading before I can say anything about permafrost melting with even the slightest authority.... Lucky for me an artist can get away with an 'artists impression', but I feel it's my obligation to at least know a bit more about what's really going on. I hope you will bear with me and my lay questions.

From your reply I understand that the thaw lakes are quite natural in a wetland permafrost environment. The BBC documentary gave me the impression that the (anaerobic) conditions in the lakes cause methane production, so is this also a natural process? So are scientists worried about an increased rate of methane emissions as result of increased melting of permafrost (leading to more and bigger permafrost lakes)? Or is the methane production in this area itself something new? Or perhaps the production of methane is not restricted to deep lakes?

Have any esimates been made of the total increase in methane emissions in artic zones? I think I read somewhere that the IPPC models have not yet taken this into account. Is that right?

Between the lines of your reply and other posts I get the impression that increased fire damage is at least as big an issue as methane emissions. I know, reading between the lines is risky business. Perhaps you can put me straight?

Thanks again for your efforts! Cheers
Evert.