Scientists warn methane monster lurking beneath Arctic's frozen ground

Scientists have warned that the Arctic has hidden beneath its frozen ground a methane monster that is threatening to show its ugly head.

Scientists are still unaware of how big the threat is and who will suffer the most, however, what remains clear is that the permanently frozen soil – which is called permafrost – has been melting amid increasing temperatures and further threatening to release massive amounts of methane, which is an extremely potent fossil fuel, from its icy prison.

While trying to understand the methane's deep distribution in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, the scientists have figured out a scary new truth.

The researchers in Norway while analysing the data from eight exploration wells – which were drilled in the local permafrost by fossil fuel companies – have discovered that half of them were filled with substantial amounts of methane gas.

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What are the chances of methane reaching the ground's surface?

As per the finding, the deep methane – which is two metres below the frozen ground's surface – is not difficult to find in the archipelago, and carries the chances of easily reaching the surface when 'unlocked'. This also applies to other parts of the Arctic, which also have similar geological origins.

"All the wells that encountered gas accumulations did so by coincidence – by contrast, hydrocarbon exploration wells that specifically target accumulations in more typical settings had a success rate far below 50 per cent," said geologist and lead author Thomas Birchall from the University Center in Svalbard, while speaking to Science Alert.

"One anecdotal example is from a wellbore that was drilled recently near the airport in Longyearbyen. The drillers heard a bubbling sound coming from the well, so we decided to have a look, armed with rudimentary alarms designed for detecting explosive levels of methane – which were immediately triggered when we held them over the wellbore,” he added.

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Even after fossil fuel companies carried out drilling for more than 50 years, this is the first study which systematically analysed the amount of methane gas lying at the base of Svalbard's permafrost.

As of now, there is no clear estimate of how much methane has been leaking from Arctic permafrost. The current research has been carried out in Svalbard and is based on data collected from 18 hydrocarbon exploration wells, 500 coal exploration bores, and 10 scientific boreholes.

(With inputs from agencies)