00:01We're out standing on a frozen lake in interior Alaska, outside of the University of Alaska
00:06Fairbanks campus, and this ice is already about 20 centimeters thick, so as it's been
00:14freezing up, methane gas has been coming out of the bottom of the lake and getting trapped
00:18in the lake ice.
00:19If you look at the shore, you can see that there are lots of trees that are falling in
00:23the lake and they're dying.
00:24What's happening is the permafrost is thawing, and the ice that was in the ground, when it
00:29melts, causes the ground surface to collapse.
00:31When the forest falls in and any organic matter, dead plant and animal remains that were in
00:38the permafrost, thaw out in the bottom of the lake, microbes decompose it and it generates
00:44methane.
00:45And methane doesn't like to stay in water, in solution.
00:49It forms bubbles, and those bubbles make their way to the surface.
00:52In the summertime, the bubbles pop and they enter the atmosphere.
00:56In the winter, however, this ice forms a cover on the surface of the lake, and the bubbles
01:01get trapped right under the ice, and then the ice thickens and freezes around them.
01:06So what we have out here is like a time-lapse photograph of methane emissions from the lakes.
01:13Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas.
01:15A molecule of methane is 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
01:19Methane is formed in millions of lakes around the Arctic, where permafrost is thawing.
01:28And each year, these lakes are emitting already tremendous amounts of methane.
01:32But when we look at how much carbon is in permafrost, still frozen, and the potential for that permafrost
01:37to thaw in the future, we estimate that more than 10 times the amount of methane that's right
01:42now in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes.
01:49So why should we go?
01:50So why should I fly this one with a very light?
01:51So why should I fly this one with a intense meteorite?
01:52I think it is a very important thing.
01:53I think it's a great case.
01:54I think the sum of the steamer is 50 to 30 on some of the pierced.
01:54I think the focus is all the other that I can't see in the sky.
01:55I think the wind will come out of this, you know, theěť´ě–¸ will come and it's all the
01:56144-209.
01:57But if we look at the water, once the water is required to cover the water, then the water is
01:58the water will come out of this because of the water.
01:59And this will come out of this.
02:00So why should we look at the water water that becomes the water.
02:01It's the water and the water is the water to finally
02:04is the water and the water.
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