|
Young World
Help from the deep
METHANE BUBBLES: More powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. PHOTO: AP
Humans seem to have help in fighting global warming. And guess who's helping: exotic undersea microbes. Found in mud volcanoes on the seabed, these microbes live on nutrients and methane from the volcano. Methane is more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Studies conducted on Haakon Mosby Mud Volcano on the bed of Barents Sea in the Arctic could give scientists clues on converting methane into other kind of fuels. These microbes, a single-celled archaea named ANME-3, can't cope with oxygen and consume thousands of tonnes of methane. Antje Boetius, who runs a laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany, told Reuters, "Industry is interested into converting methane into another energy-rich molecule, such as methanol or butane. Industrialists can do it chemically but they are hoping for a microbe that could do it much more efficiently." While it is known that mud volcanoes and vents in the seabed emit methane, there are no reliable estimates for such emissions. In some places, methane from the seabed is put to use like in California. Methane from the seabed near Santa Barbara is tapped to provide energy for around 200 houses.
COMPILED BY R. KRITHIKA
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Young World
|
