Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal

“Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia, is the world’s largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake, containing over 20% of the world’s fresh water. The lake is also a vast storehouse of methane, a greenhouse gas that, if released, could potentially increase the amount of infrared light absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, and so increase the average temperature of the entire planet.”

One thought on “Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal

  1. There are also vast amounts of methane hydrates in the ocean at around 500m. If the ocean temperature were to rise about 5°C at that depth, this would release that methane, which would in turn raise the temperature another 5°C. Then we would be on our way to a true Permian level extinction event, with widespread ocean anoxia and euxinia. Guess what the most extreme readings are showing for ocean temperature increases?

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