Scientists, for the first time, discovered an active leakage of methane gas from the seabed in Antarctica. It is a process that is likely to accelerate the process of global warming.
The finding was published in the peer review. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Scientific journal on Tuesday.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change and warms the planet much more than carbon dioxide.
The risk of it seeping under the ice has long worried scientists, who say some microorganisms may help consume it before it is released into the atmosphere.
But the new findings appear to affect hopes for the effectiveness of this process in Antarctica.
(Andrew Thurber / Oregon State University)
Above: WMicrobial mats are telltale signs of areas where methane can be released from underground methane deposits.
The report said the methane leak was first discovered in 2011, and it took five years for microorganisms that help filter the gas to develop at the site.
The researchers found that methane still escapes despite its presence.
Dr. Andrew Thurber, an oceanographer at Oregon State University, who led the research, said The Guardian: “This is not good news. It took more than five years for microbes to begin to appear and even then there was still methane rapidly escaping from the seabed.”
Thurber said the first microbes to grow in the area were from an unexpected strain, and that “it may take five to 10 years before a community fully adapts and begins consuming methane.”
Methane poses a great climate risk
Large amounts of methane are stored under sea ice. The researchers noted that “Antarctica is estimated to contain up to a quarter of Earth’s marine methane.”
Scientists have long warned of the impact on the planet if methane seeps in, something that is caused by melting ice as global temperatures rise.
NASA warned in 2018 that melting ice in the Arctic could release gases like methane, contributing to even faster global warming that was not factored into climate projections.
The release of methane from ice is also considered one of the turning points in climate change, where the effects of rising temperatures cannot be stopped or reversed.
But, until now, there has been no active methane leak in Antarctica.
(Andrew Thurber / Oregon State University)
The researchers noted that, in this case, the gas did not appear to have been released as a result of global warming: the Ross Sea, where the leak took place, has not significantly warmed up.
“The ultimate source of this methane remains unknown,” they said.
A silver lining
However, the report said the findings would deepen their understanding of how methane is consumed and released in Antarctica, about what was known very shortly before.
The fact that no leaks have been identified before now was “hampering our understanding of the processes that regulate methane release from Antarctica,” the researchers said.
They added that a better understanding of how microorganisms work will inform how researchers understand methane release in the oceans as a result of rising temperatures.
The study, they said, shows that the way microorganisms change and develop “may have an unrealized impact on the emission of greenhouse gases from marine methane deposits.”
“Our results suggest that the accuracy of future global climate models can be improved by considering the time it will take for microbial communities to respond to new methane inputs.”
However, there may be a long wait before more research can be done. According to The Guardian, his future trips to the Antarctic site have been interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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