December 29, 2024
There are stars whose light will never reach us, worlds we will never touch, mysteries we may never solve.
Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal
Birthday · December 29, 2024
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APOD published December 29, 2024. Credit: Kristina Makeeva. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
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. Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Image credit: Kristina Makeeva