Methane Bubbles from Melting Permafrost New Climate Threat

AEN News

Washington - Methane gas, which scientists say is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, is being released by melting permafrost, posing the greatest climate threat to global warming.

Methane gas bubbling up from melting permafrost is what scientists call a ticking time bomb of climate change that is coming to the surface in far greater quantities than previously believed.

The level of methane gas being released into the atmosphere is five times greater than scientists previously thought, according to a study being published in the magazine, Nature, on Thursday.

Permafrost is soil that has been frozen for thousands of years and as the atmosphere warms, the melting soil is releasing tiny bubbles of trapped methane gas into the climate. Both methane and carbon dioxide gas is released from melting permafrost which is trapped in the upper atmosphere creating a blanket that helps trap heat, which is often referred to as the "greenhouse effect". The trapped heat then works to melt more permafrost which creates an accelerating cycle of global warming.

Most of the world's permafrost can be found in Siberia, where scientists say there could be as much as 100 times the amount of gas being released into the atmosphere than from burning fossil fuels each year.

While the vicious cycle is already underway, scientists agree that there is little that can be done about it as its a natural occurrence and they are unsure of its affect, differing in opinion on the results.

It won't be released all at once or even over several decades, so its actual affect on global warming is difficult to determine, scientists say.

The areas in Siberia are remote and so far, no detailed studies have been conducted on the degree of permafrost melt there. But in Antarctic the permafrost melt is already in progress.

Methane gas will remain in the atmosphere for about a decade before it dissipates into carbon dioxide and other chemicals. Carbon dioxide traps heat for about a century. At this stage, scientists are unsure which gas is worse for the Earth's climate.