Link to paper, which was infuriatingly hard to get hold of (had to actually contact the journal to get it)
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7413/full/nature11374.html?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureClimate On Aug 30, 2012 1:01 AM, "Rau, Greg" <[email protected]> wrote: > 'Vast reservoir' of methane locked beneath beneath Antarctic ice sheet > > Scientists say as much as 4bn tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas could be > released into the atmosphere if ice melts > > * > Press Association > * guardian.co.uk<http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Wednesday 29 August 2012 > 13.00 EDT > > [ > http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/11/7/1320673975918/Satellite-Eye-on-Earth--I-007.jpg > ] > Half the West Antarctic ice sheet and a quarter of the East Antarctic > sheet lie on pre-glacial sedimentary basins containing around 21,000bn > tonnes of carbon, said the scientists. Photograph: Nasa > > A vast reservoir of the potent greenhouse gas methane may be locked > beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, a study suggests. > > Scientists say the gas could be released into the atmosphere if enough of > the ice melts away, adding to global warming. > > Research indicates that ancient deposits of organic matter may have been > converted to methane by microbes living in low-oxygen conditions. > > The organic material dates back to a period 35m years ago when the > Antarctic was much warmer than it is today and teeming with life. > > Study co-author Prof Slawek Tulaczyk, from the University of California at > Santa Barbara, said: "Some of the organic material produced by this life > became trapped in sediments, which then were cut off from the rest of the > world when the ice sheet grew. Our modelling shows that over millions of > years, microbes may have turned this old organic carbon into methane." > > Half the West Antarctic ice sheet and a quarter of the East Antarctic > sheet lie on pre-glacial sedimentary basins containing around 21,000bn > tonnes of carbon, said the scientists, writing in the journal Nature. > > British co-author Prof Jemma Wadham, from the University of Bristol, said: > "This is an immense amount of organic carbon, more than 10 times the size > of carbon stocks in northern permafrost regions. > > "Our laboratory experiments tell us that these sub-ice environments are > also biologically active, meaning that this organic carbon is probably > being metabolised into carbon dioxide and methane gas by microbes." > > The amount of frozen and free methane gas beneath the ice sheets could > amount to 4bn tonnes, the researchers estimate. > > Disappearing ice could free enough of the gas to have an impact on future > global climate change<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change>, > they believe. > > "Our study highlights the need for continued scientific exploration of > remote sub-ice environments in Antarctica< > http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/antarctica> because they may have far > greater impact on Earth's climate system than we have appreciated in the > past," said Prof Tulaczyk. > > The Antarctic ice sheet covers the southern continent's land mass and not > the sea around it. Methane hydrates - a combination of frozen water ice and > methane - are also found at the bottom of the oceans where they form as a > result of cold temperatures and high pressures. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
