Astronomy Picture of the Day - Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal

NASA ^ | 29 Dec, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Kristina Makeeva

[MtnClimber]

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.

[MtnClimber]

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[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[Jamestown1630]

How neat!

[Rio]

Methane freezes at -296°F, so these are methane bubbles with frozen water surrounding them. Pretty cool to see.

[George from New England]

looks fake — bubbles at different angles, different depths, will have different luminance. Not in this image.

[SaveFerris]

Oh no.....

If Greta sees this then it’s .....

Russia! Russia! Russia!

[Colt1851Navy]

Just frozen fish farts.

[Jamestown1630]

Are yours as artistic?

[fso301]

But cow farts are a serious problem

[Owen]

20% of the planet’s fresh water is impressive

[SaveFerris]

Maybe cows are scuba diving?

[Telepathic Intruder]

Do not disturb the methane

[BenLurkin]

Wow.

What must that water smell like in the summertime.

[Rio]

[SaveFerris]

That’s awesome!!

[Fungi]

Fables and methane
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/10/the_fables_about_greenhouse_gases_especially_about_methane.html

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

It is amazing that the lake surface froze so smoothly.

This lake has the only freshwater seals

[Savage Beast]

So the frozen methane was cold enough to keep the surrounding water frozen?

[telescope115]

The photographer has some really impressive photos on Flickr. I’m sure she does some manipulation to her work, but I love her vision. She’s quite an artist.