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Methane clathrate (CH 4 ·5.75H 2 O) or (4CH 4 ·23H 2 O), also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, fire ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound (more specifically, a clathrate hydrate) in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice.
In June 2017, scientists from the Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate (CAGE), Environment and Climate at the University of Tromsø, published a study describing over a hundred ocean sediment craters, some 300 meters wide and up to 30 meters deep, formed due to explosive eruptions, attributed to destabilizing methane hydrates, following ice-sheet ...
Layers of methane gas sit trapped below permafrost in Arctic regions, but if they’re released, it could spell trouble for the rest of the world.
Methane clathrate block embedded in the sediment of hydrate ridge, off Oregon, USA. Clathrate hydrates, or gas hydrates, clathrates, or hydrates, are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice, in which small non-polar molecules (typically gases) or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped inside "cages" of hydrogen bonded, frozen water molecules.
In the Arctic, the main human-influenced sources of methane are thawing permafrost, Arctic sea ice melting, clathrate breakdown and Greenland ice sheet melting. This methane release results in a positive climate change feedback (meaning one that amplifies warming), as methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. [3]
Based on dissolved methane in water samples, Greenland may represent a significant global methane source, and may contribute significantly more due to ongoing deglaciation. [11] A study in 2016 concluded based on past evidence, that below Greenland's and Antarctica's ice sheet may exist methane clathrates. [12]
Scientists are also worried about the rapid rise in atmospheric levels of methane, a shorter-lived but more potent heat-trapping gas. Both jumped 5.5% over the past decade.
The physical properties of the ice and of material trapped in it can be used to reconstruct the climate over the age range of the core. The proportions of different oxygen and hydrogen isotopes provide information about ancient temperatures , and the air trapped in tiny bubbles can be analysed to determine the level of atmospheric gases such as ...