Hundreds Of Arctic Blue Lakes Are Boiling Due To Methane Gas

About 200 mysterious blue lakes known as thermokarst lakes in Russia's Arctic regions are simmering because of the leaking methane gas. These bright blue lakes that are boiling due to permafrost thawing are captured by Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 satellites between 2013 and 2016.

The thermokarst lake is a kind of lake that forms when thawing permafrost triggered the area to fail and fill in with meltwater. On the other hand, the spotted lakes that are blue and boiling are different from the normal and dark thermokarst lakes because of the leaking methane. The blue color is caused by algae that are involved to the increase of sulfur levels, according to Science Alert.

Photos Reveal … Arctic Lakes … Bubbling With Methane Gas https://t.co/XIOTxDrE7R

"thermokarst lakes appear near oil and gas deposits"

— Rob (@robhwilliamson) March 26, 2017

Vasily Bogoyavlensky from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the deputy director of the Moscow-based Oil and Gas Research Institute said that these newly discovered thermokarsts lakes could be seen closer to oil and gas deposits on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in Siberia. He further said that these lakes have many features that could make them be spotted from a distance. These include the unusual bright color of water and the visibility of craters on the bottom and gas seeps in the water. There are also gas in the seasonal ice cover and coastal erosion and the enlargement of permafrost swelling near the edge of the waters, as noted by The Siberian Times.

The researchers considered these lakes as the active source of methane emissions. They are also just like the pockmarks and craters that appear on the bed of the oceans that are leaking with methane, too. The research is still ongoing at these times, and further investigation is needed to know what is truly happening in these blue lakes in the Arctic regions.