Prodigious plumes of planet-warming methane are bubbling from sediments across a broad region of Arctic seafloor previously thought to be sealed by permafrost, new analyses indicate. The resulting increase of methane gas in the atmosphere may accelerate climate warming, scientists say.
WARMING SIGNS With a boot for scale, this photo shows methane-rich bubbles accumulating beneath the sea ice of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf — a shallow, Greenland-sized swath of the Arctic Ocean that scientists recently discovered is leaking large amounts of planet-warming methane.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.