Lake Ezeeh is a shallow lake about one meter deep and about the size of 20 football fields to the surface. But where most bubbles rise, the bottom drops to a maximum of 15 meters.
A research team has now analyzed the lake using VLF, a type of electromagnetic wave technology used by the military and others for submarine communications. The images reveal that a chimney-like channel has formed in the permafrost under Lake Esih, allowing fossil methane gas to escape to the Earth’s surface.
– This is the largest methane leak ever found in the Arctic, says Taylor Sullivan, a geophysicist at Science World: The Arctic is melting!
Measurements show ten tons of methane, a greenhouse gas, are bubbling up from the lake every day.
There may be more similar lakes
Methane leaks are found in many places in the Arctic, but they tend to be small. Ecologist Katie Walter Anthony was one of the first researchers to research Lake Esieh. They believe that more lakes with this type of methane leak are in the permafrost region.
– It is impossible to stop because the water is hot. This can cause the ground to melt in a short period of time, says Katie Walter Anthony.
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