(ORDO NEWS) — Experts have discovered a methane leak from the seabed of Antarctica. Because of this process, the situation with global warming may become critical.
The results of the research carried out by scientists were published a few days ago in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Methane is a fairly strong greenhouse gas that can adversely affect the climate and provoke a more powerful warming of the planet’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
For quite a long time, experts have been worried about the fact that methane may begin to come out from under the ice of Antarctica. It is worth noting that some of the microorganisms can consume this gas before it begins to enter the planet’s atmosphere in large quantities. But this process will no longer be so effective, because the results of the latest study shocked specialists.
For the first time, a methane leak was discovered back in 2011. It took microorganisms five years to partially filter the gas. Despite the fact that there are a lot of microorganisms, there is still too much methane left.
Dr. Andrew Thurber, who conducted the study, said the results were not encouraging at all. It took five years for the microbes to work more efficiently, but that didn’t help stop the rise in methane. It should be noted that microorganisms were discovered in this area, which had a very unexpected origin for scientists.
There is a lot of methane under the sea ice. The experts added that Antarctica contains about a quarter of the planet’s marine methane. For quite a long time, experts have warned that methane leaks have a negative effect on the Earth‘s climate and provoke a rapid rise in temperature.
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