Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas
20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen
bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists
undertaking an extensive survey of the region. The scale and
volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the
Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the
East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20
years. In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Igor
Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, said that he has never before witnessed the scale and
force of the methane being released from beneath the Arctic
seabed. "Earlier we found torch-like structures like this but
they were only tens of metres in diameter. This is the first
time that we've found continuous, powerful and impressive
seeping structures, more than 1,000 metres in diameter. It's
amazing," Dr Semiletov said. "I was most impressed by the sheer
scale and high density of the plumes. Over a