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Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic – known as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – are being released into the atmosphere, reveals the The Guardian.
High levels of the potent greenhouse gas have been detected at a depth of 350 meters in the Laptev Sea, near Russia. This has raised concerns among researchers, who fear a new round of reply which accelerates the pace of global warming.
The sediments of the slopes in the Arctic contain a huge amount of frozen methane and other gases. Methane has a heating effect 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
The United States Geological Survey, a scientific institution, previously listed Arctic gas destabilization as one of the four most serious scenarios for sudden climate change.
Surface methane levels are four to eight times higher than expected, according to the international team aboard the Russian research vessel.
“Right now, it is unlikely there will be a major impact on global warming, but the point is that this process has begun,” said Swedish scientist Örjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University. The Guardian.
The scientists, who are part of an international expedition of multi-year shelf studies, noted that the conclusions are preliminary.
But the discovery of a potentially destabilized slope of frozen methane raises concerns that a new tipping point has been reached that could increase the rate of global warming.
With the Arctic temperature now rising more than double the global average, the question of when – or even if – they will be released into the atmosphere has been a matter of considerable uncertainty in computer climate models.
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