Methane leaks 'could be accelerating Arctic damage'

A multi-institutional study has found that methane leaks in the Arctic could be accelerating environmental damage in the area.

Researchers in the area have uncovered a surprising amount of Arctic methane being released by the ocean itself. The high concentrations of the greenhouse gas could add to the body of evidence on the warming climate, and may accelerate environmental damage in the area.

The teams have warned that there may be a vast amount of methane frozen in reservoirs stored in Arctic tundra soils or marine sediments. As the area heats up, this is vulnerable to being released into the atmosphere.

A multi-institutional study were commissioned to document these levels in the Arctic ,and have taken measurements from five HIPPO flights over the Arctic from 2009 to 2010. They found that when flying at low altitudes over the remote Arctic Ocean, the methane level was about one-half per cent larger than normal background levels.

Eric Kort of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, US, said: "It’s possible that as large areas of sea ice melt and expose more ocean water, methane production may increase, leading to larger methane emissions.”

Posted by Lauren Steadman