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Credit & Copyright: Kristina Makeeva
Explanation:
What are these bubbles frozen into Lake Baikal?
Methane.
Lake Baikal, a
UNESCO
World Heritage Site in
Russia,
is the world's largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake,
containing over 20% of the world's fresh water.
The lake is also a vast storehouse of methane, a
greenhouse gas that, if released, could potentially increase the amount of infrared
light absorbed by
Earth's atmosphere,
and so increase the average temperature of the entire planet.
Fortunately, the amount of methane currently
bubbling
out
is not climatologically important.
It is not clear
what would happen, though, were temperatures to significantly increase in
the
region, or if the water level in
Lake Baikal were to drop.
Pictured,
bubbles of rising
methane froze during winter into the exceptionally
clear ice covering
the lake.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Earth
Publications with words: Earth
See also: