US east coast has ocean floor methane leaks

Researchers have discovered more than 500 bubbling methane vents on the ocean floor off the US east coast, the BBC reported. The leaks could be contributing to global warming. While scientists have not yet sampled the gas within the streams of bubbles, they believe that circumstancial evidence points to methane. The huge volumes of the gas appear to be contained in a type of sludgy ice called methane hydrate or clathrate which sends bubbles of gas which is oxidized to carbon dioxide. There is no evidence, however, to suggest that the carbon from the seeps “is entering the atmosphere,” researchers said.

Read the full story on the BBC.