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An international team of researchers aboard a Russian research ship has discovered evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean have been dispersing over a large area of Siberia, potentially fueling a dangerous new climate feedback loop. .

The Guardian reports the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS-2020) found that slope sediments spreading over much of the continental shelf are rich in frozen methane hydrates that have been detected to a depth of 1,150 feet in the Laptev Sea.

"Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean – known as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – have started to be released over a large area of the continental slope off the East Siberian coast."https://t.co/MLLY8PtQ4x.

Gustafsson, a member of the research team, warned last month that "climate warming is awakening the 'sleeping giants' of the carbon cycle, namely permafrost and methane hydrates.".

The #ISSS2020 expedition will focus on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (#ESAS), thought to hold most of the global #subsea #permafrost and shallow #methane #hydrates.

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