All news

Russian scientists to analyze permafrost's input in greenhouse gas emissions

The biggest hydrocarbon deposits on the Arctic shelf known for methane emissions are in the Kara Sea's South-Kara oil and gas bearing region

TOMSK, November 21. /TASS/. Experts of the Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch) and other Russian scientific institutions conducted simultaneous measurements on the ground, off a ship and off an aircraft to compare methane emissions in the sea and on the ground in order to analyze how the perennially frozen grounds add to greenhouse gas emissions, the Institute's press service told TASS.

The biggest hydrocarbon deposits on the Arctic shelf known for methane emissions are in the Kara Sea's South-Kara oil and gas bearing region.

"Our task is to assess greenhouse gas' streams off the sea, to compare them with the streams on the ground - from the Vasyugan Swamps, to understand a possible input of the permafrost in greenhouse gases' emissions," the press service said. "Scientists are facing this ambitious task for the first time, and thus they will make simultaneous studies off a vessel and off an aircraft."

According to the project's leader, head of the Institute's atmosphere climatology lab, Boris Belan, the experts have found that methane concentration in the air above the Kara Sea in 2022 is lower than it was in 2020, while the average gas concentrations in the planet's atmosphere were growing over that period.

"In the experiment in 2020, <…> above the Kara Sea waters scientists registered the highest concentrations of methane," the expert said. "It is weird, since before that, according to written sources, its high concentrations have been registered only above the Laptev Sea. <…> Methane concentration in the air above the Kara Sea in 2022 is lower than it was in 2020, while in the planet's atmosphere experts have registered an average growth of that gas' share.".