News Sources have been reporting on the first underwater methane leak to be discovered in the Antarctic region.
Methane emissions come about throughout the world from man-made and natural sources. Considered to be a vastly greater contributor to global warming that CO2 such findings bring on quite a bit of worry.
Methane can warm the earth tens of times faster than Carbon Dioxide.
What could additional leaks, if found, mean for the planet? Increased and sped up warming would be devastating in many forms. Permafrost would melt faster thus releasing more methane. Warmer seas and surfaces will only add fuel to the fire of global climactic change.
We wrote about the concerns of Methane upon the planet three years ago. We abandoned this pursuit back then but pledge to continue it going forward. We’re thankful to see the media helping to alert the world of what lies ahead for Earth.
One news outlet, Business Insider’s article is titled, ‘Methane is mysteriously leaking from the sea floor in Antarctica, edging global heating to a point of no return’.
This source, as well as others, point to the Research Article titled: ‘Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean’ – so named due to the methane-eating microbial organisms that found at such locales in turn diminishing the amount of methane reaching the atmosphere.
More can be read on the subject of these microbes in Salon’s article titled: ‘A methane leak in Antarctica provides new insight into how methane-eating microbes evolve’.
Here’s a related video published by Oregon State University on Youtube.
Other related write-ups include the following:
- The Guardian: First active leak of sea-bed methane discovered in Antarctica
- Phy.org: Active leak of sea-bed methane discovered in Antarctica for first time
- Reuters: ‘Waterfall’ of microbes in Antarctic sea floor leads to discovery of methane leak