Discovery of methane leak

BUENOS AIRES - Scientists have discovered an active methane seep from Antarctica’s sea bed that could shed light on the potent greenhouse gas trapped beneath frozen continent.

Marine ecologist Andrew Thurber first glimpsed what a colleague described as a “microbial waterfall” during a dive in the icy waters of the Ross Sea in 2012.

What looked like a superhighway of white patches on the ocean floor were clusters of tiny organisms drawn to the methane leak.

“My first thought was ‘wow,’ and I was immediately enamored with what this means for science,” said Mr Thurber, an assistant professor at Oregon State University.

Scientists believe there is a massive amount of methane stored below the ocean floor in Antarctica. The discovery, published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, marks the first time a natural seep has ever been detected in the continent.

There is no evidence that climate change is behind the Antarctic methane seep — good news to scientists concerned that global warming could cause permafrost to thaw and release methane long trapped within.

However, if the methane reaches the atmosphere it could exacerbate global warming because methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Atmospheric levels of methane have been rising because of human activities including agriculture and oil and gas drilling.

Mr Thurber noted that the microbes found near the Antarctic seep actually help keep methane out of the atmosphere by consuming the gas before it can rise through the water into the air.