‘Sleeping giant’ Arctic methane deposits have started to release: Scientists

Team Udayavani, Oct 29, 2020, 6:05 PM IST

An international team of scientists on board Russian research ship R/V Akademik Keldysh has found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean have started to release.

The deposits are known as the ‘sleeping giants of the carbon cycle’. The deposits are being released over a large area of the continental slope off the East Siberian coast, scientists said.

According to The Guardian, The slope sediments in the Arctic contain a huge quantity of frozen methane and other gases, known as hydrates. Methane has a warming effect 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years.

The United States Geological Survey has previously listed Arctic hydrate destabilisation as one of four most serious scenarios for abrupt climate change.