Melting glaciers in Antarctica release methane from ancient mosses
The retreat of Antarctic glaciers due to rising summer temperatures is releasing methane from ancient mosses that have been buried under the ice for thousands of years – as noted by the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Centre of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, TASS reports
The summer of 2023 was marked by extremely high temperatures, and the extent of sea ice around Antarctica was the lowest on record since 1979. Local warming was also recorded on King George Island (Waterloo), located north of the Antarctic Peninsula, where the boundary of the Antarctic Bellingshausen Glacier has retreated.
“The retreat of Antarctic glaciers due to rising summer temperatures has led to the melting of ancient mosses. Fossil mosses, buried under ice cover for several thousand years, became accessible to microorganisms and became a source of the greenhouse gas methane,” the report notes. The centre’s scientists, together with colleagues from Moscow and St. Petersburg, assessed the flow of greenhouse gases during an expedition to Antarctica.
According to researchers, polar ecosystems are sensitive to climate change, and when mosses thaw, they become accessible to microorganisms, which immediately begin to process them, releasing methane. Further melting of Antarctica’s ice will lead to a flow of methane into the atmosphere, scientists note.
