Antarctic may host methane stores

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"127","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","id":"media_crop_6810678576135","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"17","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

 
Ancient organic matter could be converted to methane by microbes.
 

Large volumes of methane - a potent

greenhouse gas - could be locked beneath the ice-covered regions of Antarctica,

according to a new study.

It says this methane could be released into the atmosphere as ice retreats,

contributing to climate warming.

The findings indicate that ancient deposits of organic matter may have been

converted to methane by microbes under the ice.

An international team reported the results in Nature journal.

Study leader Jemima Wadham, from Bristol University, said: "This is an

immense amount of organic carbon, more than ten times the size of carbon stocks

in northern permafrost regions.

"Our laboratory experiments tell us that these sub-ice environments are also

biologically active, meaning that this organic carbon is probably being

metabolised to carbon dioxide and methane gas by microbes."

They estimate that there could be hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon