(From telegraph.co.uk) – Millions of tons of methane stored beneath the Arctic seabed is bubbling up to the surface and being released into the atmosphere as the region warms up and the ice retreats, scientists have said. The gas is said to be 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and scientists have warned that it could accelerate global warming.
It is usually locked in a deep freeze below the sea, but as the ice melts on the surface, small holes, or “chimneys”, appear and the gas escapes.
Scientists believe that underground stores of methane have in the past been responsible for rapid rises in global temperatures, changes in the climate and even extinction of species.
They think that the amount of methane being released from the area of the arctic along the Siberian continental shelf could equal the emissions from the rest of the world’s oceans put together.
The Arctic region has risen in temperature by 39.2F (4C) over recent decades according to scientists.
(By Jessica Salter)