Scientists have discovered dozens of new methane seeps emerging from the Antarctic seabed, raising fears that global warming projections may have underestimated the scale of future emissions.
An international research team identified more than 40 methane seeps in the shallow waters of the Ross Sea, Antarctica — a stark contrast to previous findings, which confirmed only one active site across the entire continent. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest a “fundamental shift” in the release of this potent greenhouse gas.
Methane is a major contributor to global heating, trapping around 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. While some of the gas is consumed by methane-eating microbes under the sea, scientists warn that increasing seep activity could accelerate the rate of climate change.
“Something that was thought to be rare is now seemingly becoming widespread,” said Sarah Seabrook, a marine scientist at Earth Sciences New Zealand and co-author of the report. “Every seep we discovered was accompanied by an immediate excitement that was quickly replaced with anxiety and concern.”
Researchers are investigating whether climate change is driving the new seeps, similar to patterns observed in the Arctic, where warming oceans and shifting land masses have triggered methane release from ancient reservoirs.
Andrew Thurber, a marine biology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, added: “Methane is a real unknown, it’s going up in the atmosphere and we don’t know why.” He warned that the Antarctic’s vast methane reserves could turn “from a natural laboratory to an epicentre of danger” if warming continues.
The team will return to Antarctica this month for a two-month expedition to study the methane seeps further and assess their potential impact on climate and marine life.
Scientists alarmed as methane leaks surge from Antarctic seabed appeared first on Energy Live News.