Methane contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, which causes 500,000 premature deaths worldwide each year.
In Alaska’s newly formed lakes, problems arise that worry NASA scientists. Reservoirs that come from melting permafrost release methane into the atmosphere, Science Alert writes.
These lakes, called thermokarst, are so full of climate-disrupting gas that you can see it bubbling to the surface.
According to a 2021 study, more and more of these lakes are emerging due to melting of Alaska’s permafrost with rising temperatures and more wildfires.
“The Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is studying its impact on climate change. Thermokarst lakes appear when permafrost, the land that should remain frozen year-round, begins to melt. When this happens, the huge blocks of ice that were stuck to the ground “were also melting, causing the ground to drop several feet. A few years ago, the ground was about three meters high and it was a spruce forest,” said Cathy Walter Anthony, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, describing a thermokarst called the Big Lake Trail.
At Big Trail Lake, he said, it’s like opening the freezer door for the first time.
“When they decompose it, they release methane gas,” he said, adding that, for example, there are millions of lakes in the Arctic, but most of them are thousands of years old and no longer release much gas.
Only new lakes, such as the Great Trail, which appeared less than 50 years ago, release large amounts of gas. And it is a lot.
An insider previously reported that this type of lake emits so much methane that it is easy to burn them after quickly hitting the ice. While carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) remains a major long-term cause of the climate crisis, methane leakage has become a critical issue to help combat climate change in the short term.
Methane is a greenhouse gas, which means it keeps heat from the earth trapped in the atmosphere instead of cooling the earth.
“Reducing methane emissions is an important tool we can use today to reduce the effects of climate change in the near term and rapidly reduce the rate of warming,” said NOAA chief Rick Spinrad. a while ago.
Remember that early researchers found a way to safely release the gas from cows, which could save the planet.
More than 100 countries have pledged to reduce methane emissions
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Source: korrespondent
