(CNN)Russian scientists studying Arctic waters found the most powerful ever methane jets shooting up from the seabed to the water’s surface, they said Friday.
Igor Semiletov, the chief scientist aboard a vessel carrying 65 scientists on a 40-day research voyage, told CNN via satellite phone that he found amounts of methane in the air over the East Siberian Sea up to nine times the global average.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with a significantly greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide, according to NASA. The methane emissions in the Arctic, fueled by the melting of permafrost on the sea floor, are one driver of climate change, NASA said.
The emissions are presenting a growing risk.
Methane levels Semiletov’s team found in the air above the seawater were “extremely high,” he said. “Nobody has…
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Exposing the Big Game 