First Methane Leak Found on Antarctic Sea Floor, Confirming Researchers' Fears

First Methane Leak Found on Antarctic Sea Floor Confirms Researchers' Fears <p>The microbes aren't helping.</p> Sinead Baker, Business Insider ScienceAlert

Scientists have, for the first time, discovered an active leak of methane gas from the sea floor in Antarctica. It is a process that's likely to accelerate the process of global heating.

The finding was published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the Royal Society B scientific journal on Tuesday.

Methane is powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change, and warms the planet much more than carbon dioxide does.

The risk of it leaking from under ice has long concerned scientists, who say that some microorganisms can help to consume it before it is released into the atmosphere.

But the new findings appear to dent the hopes of the effectiveness of this process in Antarctica.

The report said the methane leak was first discovered in 2011, and that it took five years for the microorganisms that help filter away the gas to develop at the site.

The researchers found that methane is still escaping despite their presence.

Dr. Andrew Thurber, an oceanographer at Oregon State University, who led the research, told The Guardian: "It is not good news. It took more than five years for the microbes to begin to show up and even then there was still methane rapidly escaping from the sea floor."...