Scientists Detect Massive Methane Leaks In Antarctica, Raising Climate Concerns

A team of Spanish scientists have discovered large methane gas emissions from the Antarctica seabed, raising serious concerns about climate change and potential underwater landslides.

The findings come from a recent expedition aboard the Spanish research vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa, which explored the Pacific margin of the Antarctica Peninsula- one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth.

Methane in Antarctica is trapped in methane hydrates-solid, ice-like formations created from organic matter buried for over 20,000 years beneath the ocean floor.

These hydrates remain stable under high pressure and low temperatures but are now destabilising due to two major factors: rising ocean temperatures and post-glacial rebound.

Post-glacial rebound occurs when the weight of melting ice sheets decreases, causing the land to rise and reduce pressure on the seabed, which leads to the release of methane.

Geologist Roger Urgeles, who led the expedition alongside Ricardo Leon, estimates that the Antarctic Peninsula holds about 24 gigatons of carbon in methane hydrates. This amount is equivalent to the total carbon emissions produced by humanity over two years.

The research team detected huge methane columns rising from the ocean floor, with some stretching up to 700 meters long and 70 meters wide.

The gas is escaping through geological faults, often forming mud volcanoes hundreds of meters above the seabed. While much of this methane dissolves in seawater at around 150 meters below the surface, scientists are still determining how much might escape into the atmosphere, where it could have severe environmental consequences.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, considered 20 to 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat.

Although methane seepage has been studied in the Arctic, this is the first time such large-scale emissions have been observed in Antarctica.

The researchers have warned that methane gas expansion within seabed sediments could trigger large underwater landslides, leading to tsunamis. When frozen methane transforms into gas, it expands 160 times its original volume.

If the pressure buildup is too high, it can destabilise marine sediments and cause sudden collapses along the continental slope.

Urgeles compares this risk to the historic Storegga landslide in the Arctic, which occurred around 8,150 years ago. That incident, which was triggered by the dissociation of methane hydrates, resulted in a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in northern Europe, including Scotland, Denmark, and Norway, with waves reaching up to 20 meters high.

The research team, which conducted extensive water and sediment sampling during their expedition, discussed the need for long-term monitoring to track methane seepage trends in Antarctica.

Since current climate models do not account for these emissions, in-depth studies are essential to assess their impact on global warming.

The Antarctic Peninsula has been experiencing a temperature rise of more than three degrees in just the past 50 years and scientists stress the urgency to understand how methane release will evolve in the coming decades.

Reference: elpais

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