Increased Methane Levels Recorded in the Arctic

Along with the nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, methane is one of the three gases that has been directly linked to the intensification of the global warming and climate change phenomena throughout the world. And while, sadly, CO2 levels continue to climb on account of all the fossil fuel that is being burnt at this time, those of the other two gases have remained roughly the same over the last decades. However, the concentrations of methane in the Arctic are now beginning to increase, prompting more concerns among scientists that the warming trend on the planet will accelerate again.

The Arctic regions currently find themselves in a vicious circle of sorts. On the one hand, methane is stored deeply into the permafrost, the frozen layer of the earth that covers the tundra. On the other hand, CO2 prompts the warming of the atmosphere, and higher temperatures unfreeze the permafrost and allow methane to escape. So, in conclusion, larger amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere indirectly lead to larger amounts of methane, even though human production of the gas is carefully regulated.

As opposed to the 2004 levels, the year 2007 saw a one percent increase in the amount of methane being emitted by the permafrost on the Norwegian arctic islands of Svalbard, which was a very high increment for just three years. As opposed to the 2006 levels, emissions went up by 0.6 percent, which means that, if the current trend continues, then they could augment by as much as 6 percent within a decade. A high degree of emitted methane would further accelerate this vicious circle, in very much the same way melting glaciers in the Arctic do.

“One theory is that large quantities of methane that are naturally stored in the permafrost of North America and Russia, and under the sea floor in Arctic waters, might be being released into the atmosphere due to warmer temperatures and less snow and ice cover,” Norwegian Institute for Air Research scientist Cathrine Lund Myhre says. According to the latest methane reading recorded around the Arctic, emission degrees have also increased in Northern Canada, in Siberia, and in Ireland as well.

“That is a relatively large increase, especially since methane levels were virtually stable from 1999 until 2005. The increases being bigger at Svalbard than other areas can be an indication that the source is in the far north,” Myhre concludes.