Wednesday, 22 July 2020

A Present from Antarctica?


There are reports of a substantial leak of methane from the sea bed under the Ross sea in Antarctica (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/22/first-active-leak-of-sea-bed-methane-discovered-in-antarctica). Methane is a much more potent 'greenhouse gas' than carbon dioxide and will intensify climate change. This makes human-mediated reductions in carbon dioxide emissions even more urgent. The leak itself appears not to be a consequence of global warming (the Ross sea is still very cold) and has apparently been going on for some years. There are bacteria that can break down the methane but these appear to have been very slow to colonise this area.

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