Methane gas flares, up to 800 meters high, rise from the Arctic Ocean floor. That is the size of the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Golden Gate Bridge becomes a miniature, in this visual comparison.
Text: Maja Sojtaric, Video illustration: Aleksei Portnov, phd.
Vestnesa ridge, is relatively small area in the Fram Strait, the deep-water gateway to the Arctic Ocean. It is one of our major research sites because it contains a lot of methane in the sea floor, in form of an ice-like substance called hydrate. If this methane ice melts and escapes into the atmosphere it could have an impact on global warming. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 28 times more powerful than CO2. And the methane in this tiny sliver of the ocean floor is escaping, in a spectacular manner.
This amazing illustration made by our PhD Aleksei Portnov will show you why. The echo sounder data shows gas flares that extend up to 800 metres above the ocean floor in this area. They are big, and many. They dwarf the Golden Gate Bridge that is put into the image for comparison, and are almost as high as the tallest man made structure in the world, Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
