I was expecting this to be mentioned somewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2008/09/17/impacts-on-the-threshol...
They are both associated with historically cold environments that are now warming up, but each has its own mechanism and likely impacts (clathrates may be worse, since methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas, but the permafrost melting is going to be with us for 1000's of years whereas methane will be with us for "only" a decade. Also permafrost is likely to be a potent methane producer as well while it thaws out.