METHANE, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, a researcher on an international expedition in the region said

“The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below.

“It is obvious that the source is the seabed,” said Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study.

The tests were carried out in the Laptev and east Siberian seas and used much more precise measuring equipment than previous studies, he said.

Methane is over 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping solar heat.
Scientists fear global warming may cause Siberia’s permafrost to thaw and thereby release vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The effects of global warming are already most visible in the Arctic region. — AFP