Challenging Climate Models: Unexpectedly Large Methane Source Discovered in Overlooked Landscape

Scientists found unexpected methane emissions in Alaska’s drylands, suggesting these areas could significantly contribute to climate change, contrary to previous models.
When Katey Walter Anthony heard rumors of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, ballooning under the lawns of fellow Fairbanks residents, she nearly didn’t believe it.

“I ignored it for years because I thought ‘I am a limnologist, methane is in lakes,’” she said.

But when a local reporter contacted Walter Anthony, who is a research professor at the Institute of Northern Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, to inspect the waterbed-like ground at a nearby golf course, she started to pay attention. Like others in Fairbanks, they lit “turf bubbles” on fire and confirmed the presence of methane gas.