--- title: "Oh Good, Melting Glaciers Are Releasing Ancient Methane Into the Atmosphere" description: "A new study suggests that melting Arctic glaciers are releasing ancient stores of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere." date: "2023-07-08" modified: "2023-07-08" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/melting-glaciers-methane" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "arctic" - "climate change" - "glaciers" - "the digest" --- # Oh Good, Melting Glaciers Are Releasing Ancient Methane Into the Atmosphere ![A new study suggests that melting Arctic glaciers are releasing ancient stores of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Feedback Loop A troubling [new study]() suggests that melting Arctic glaciers are releasing ancient stores of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. According to the study, which examined glacier retreat across the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, the gas is being released as diminishing glaciers reveal new, long-iced-over land. As the ice recedes, ancient groundwater bubbles to the surface, forming small, above-ground springs — and of 123 examined springs, researchers discovered that 122 contained potent reservoirs of ancient methane. The research was conducted by an international team of scientists and published Thursday in the journal *Nature.* It's unclear exactly how much methane has entered the atmosphere as a result of these newfound Arctic springs, but researchers fear that the melting of glaciers — [a particularly dire side effect of global warming]() — may have unlocked a newfound source of destructive greenhouse gas emissions. "This is a feedback loop that's caused by climate change," Gabrielle Kleber, the study's lead author and a scientist at the University of Cambridge, [told *The Washington Post*](). "Glaciers are retreating due to climate warming, and they are leaving these exposed forefields behind, which are encouraging methane gas to be released." ## Vast Reserves Per the *WaPo*, the age of the newly-uncovered methane, believed to be millions of years old, implies that the underwater methane reservoirs are vast. "It's not methane being produced contemporarily by microbes," Kleber told the *WaPo*. "It's methane that was created when the rocks were formed." As detailed in the study, the researchers found the large deposits trapped in subterranean stores of shale. And unfortunately, scientists believe that shale's Earthly abundance means that similar stores could be trapped throughout our planet's northernmost regions. "Shale is Earth's most abundant sedimentary rock, and there's plenty of it in the Arctic (or rocks like it)," co-author Andy Hodson, a scientist at Norway's University Centre in Svalbard, told the *WaPo.* As it stands, the researchers don't seem terribly optimistic. "It's just a kind of bleak concept to watch these hundreds of cubic meters of water flashing before our eyes and knowing in our current climate, that’s ice that will never be replaced," Kleber told the *WaPo*. "And then we have these methane springs bubbling up before the glacier." **More on the Arctic:** [*Something Is Up with Earth's North and South Poles*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()