The bomb goes off. Methane from arctic ice could cook the planet

Ice-covered Svalbard is key to our planet's future climate. The permafrost that covers it traps large amounts of methane underground. If permafrost continues to melt, A very powerful greenhouse gas can enter the atmosphere, causing it to heat up even faster.

A new study shows that the problem may be more serious than scientists feared. A team of researchers from Norway has mapped methane deposits under the permafrost covering the Arctic islands. There are more of them than we previously thought.

“Currently, methane leakage from permafrost is very small, but factors such as retreating glaciers and melting permafrost may raise the cap in the future,” writes Thomas Birchall, a geologist at the University Center in Svalbard, Norway, who led the study.

Permafrost is soil that has been frozen for at least two years without thawing. It does not melt for tens or even hundreds of years. The snow-covered earth forms an effective seal that traps the gases beneath it. But as glaciers and permafrost melt, millions of cubic meters of gas stored in the Arctic are at risk of uncontrolled release.

Birchall and his colleagues used data from commercial and scientific drilling to map the permafrost across the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, which sits above the Arctic Circle and locates gas deposits. Scientists have discovered that methane-rich deposits are more common on islands than previously thought. As the archipelago has a similar geology and glacial history to the rest of the Arctic, the same applies to other permafrost-covered locations near the North Pole.

Methane is not evenly distributed under the permafrost. The reason is that its bottom is corrugated. This creates pockets between the permafrost and bedrock where gas can become trapped.

If When the permafrost breaks, it can set off a chain reaction. Methane, a greenhouse gas dozens of times more potent than CO2, can accelerate the rise of atmospheric temperatures, causing permafrost to melt faster. This, in turn, leads to the release of even more gas.

Research shows that permafrost in Svalbard, 800 km from the North Pole, is not uniform. Coastal areas have a thin cover of frozen soil due to heat carried by ocean currents, while lowland permafrost is thick and saturated with snow. The authors of the latest study say it has “exceptionally good sealing properties”. Capable of “self-healing”.. In the more arid highlands of the archipelago, the permafrost is highly porous and allows methane to easily pass through.

However, even the tight cover of permafrost is not eternal, contrary to its name. A recent study shows that Svalbard is one of the fastest warming places on the planet The “active” layer of permafrost – the top few meters, which thaw and freeze seasonally – deepen as global temperatures rise.

Estimating the amount of methane trapped beneath permafrost is difficult because it is difficult to access. His Size can be estimated based on drilling to date, but only a few dozen were carried out in the archipelago. However, scientists estimate that the archipelago holds several million cubic meters of gas.