This is the story of the year 2006, when scientists from all over the world detected a poisonous gas in our atmosphere. Methane gas. It was noticed that the amount of methane gas in the atmosphere has suddenly increased a lot and is still increasing.
Methane is a kind of natural gas that if left in the atmosphere, it heats the ground. Just as we cover ourselves with blankets to keep ourselves warm in winter, in the same way, this gas also works like a blanket around the ground. The internal heat remains inside and heats the ground even more.
Methane gas also works to heat more than normal carbon dioxide. In 2006, when it started increasing suddenly, scientists thought that it was probably increasing due to the pollution caused by humans. But when they investigated, they were all surprised to see it.
It was a very big secret that our earth had hidden inside itself. How did this methane gas come into being and why is its amount increasing continuously? How does the scientific community detect methane gas? And most importantly, is this methane gas a sign of the end of the world or a sign of a very big climate shift? The scientific community already knew that the methane spike in the atmosphere usually occurs once every 100,000 years.
And this information is found by drilling in snowy areas such as Antarctica and Greenland, which is called an ice core. Assume that every year there is 1 meter of snow in Antarctica. The air in this snow is also trapped.
And then the next year a new layer of snow comes on top of it. When the ice core is drilled deep, it hides a record of thousands of years old atmosphere inside itself like a time machine. And then it is estimated from it that in which century, which gases were in the atmosphere and in what amount.
In the same way, the scientific community found that in the history of the earth, every 100,000 years there is a point when methane gas increases in the atmosphere. This is a sign that the ice age is ending and now the earth will start warming again. When the ice age begins to end, in just 20-30 years, a lot of snow melts and the condition of the earth becomes as it is today.
But the problem here is that such levels of methane were recorded 12,000 years ago, after which the ice age began to end. So now why is methane increasing so fast in the atmosphere again? Is our earth moving towards a big change or is it a new danger? To understand this secret, we will have to look at the history of the earth. We are now in such a period of the earth called the Quaternary Period.
This period started about 25 lakh years ago and is still going on. There are two parts of this Quaternary Period. The first part was the Pleistocene Epoch, which started about 25 lakh years ago and continued for 12,000 years.
In this period, ice ages kept coming to the earth again and again, in which a very large part of the earth was covered with ice, then after thousands of years, the ice melts and most of the earth dries up. Then snow comes and this cycle continues. This was the period in which humans also progressed and in the same period, large animals such as mammoths also died.
And then came the second part of the Quaternary Period, which is called the Hellocene Epoch. This started about 12,000 years ago and is still going on. In this period, the snow decreased a lot and the weather on the ground became very stable and warm.
Because of this, we humans learned to farm. Glaciers melted and fresh water resources were created and humans started to settle near the water. Now there is a small confusion here.
We are in the Hellocene, which is a hot period. But technically we are still in the Ice Age. This means that there is still snow on the poles of the earth.
But those glaciers are not as big as they used to be at the peak of the Ice Age. When there is no snow on the poles at all, we can say that the Ice Age is over. But the question is, what is it that warms the ground and ends the Ice Age? The scientific community has found three big things, which are called Milankovitch cycles.
The first thing is eccentricity, i.e. the earth revolves around the sun on a circular path. But sometimes this path, i.e. its orbit, becomes a little oval. And when the earth comes to this point in this oval shape, the heat from the sun increases.
This eccentricity cycle lasts for about 100,000 years. In these 100,000 years, the orbit becomes oval and then becomes round again. But the scientific community believes that in reality, not only does the eccentricity cycle play a big role in ending the Ice Age, but the axial tilt also plays a big role.
That is, when our earth revolves around the sun, it is a little inclined. At an angle of about 23.5 degrees. But this inclination also changes a little over time.
When the ground is more inclined, there are more emissions on the poles in the summer. And the ice there melts quickly. Scientists believe that this cycle also lasts for 41,000 years.
In which the earth acts to tilt from 22.1 degrees to 24.5 degrees. And the third thing is precession, i.e. the axis of the earth. The axis of the earth also moves a little, like a lollipop.
Because of this, the timing of the weather changes. This cycle is also about 19,000 to 23,000 years. These three things, eccentricity, axial tilt and precession, together start a cycle to heat the earth.
Ice reflects the maximum light of the sun. And when white ice melts, the ground or sea below it is exposed to sunlight. And its color is not white, but dark.
Like the color of the soil or the dark blue color of the ocean water. And everyone knows that dark colors can absorb the light of the sun well. When there is more absorption, more ice melts.
And this cycle continues. But the earth starts getting hotter when the gases hidden in the ground, such as carbon dioxide or methane, start releasing in the atmosphere due to the heat. These gases are trapped in the oceans or frozen ice inside the ground, which is called permafrost.
These gases make the ground hotter. So now the question is, if everything was fine, then why was there such a big increase in methane in 2006? The event that ended the Ice Age was only 12,000 years ago. Not 100,000 years ago, as is usually the case.
In the 1900s, when the natural gas industry grew rapidly, methane emissions also increased a lot because of humans. But by 1990, they stopped at one point. So where did this new spike come from in 2006? Methane is a gas that is not only made by humans, but also naturally.
As I said earlier, the gases hidden in the ground. It is trapped in the wet ground and the oceans. And melting of ice is a trigger point for it.
With today’s advanced technology, scientists can find out where these gases are coming from. A special wavelength laser beam is sent from the satellite to the ground. This wavelength can only be absorbed by methane gas.
And at the points where this laser light does not reflect back to the satellite, it means that methane gas has absorbed it at this point. In this way, the scientific community has created a map of methane all over the world. With the same technology, NASA’s teams have mapped a 3-mile-long cloud of methane in Iran.
It releases 73,440 tons of methane gas every year. That is the weight of 180 Boeing Jumbo jets. And if you count the hours, 8,500 kg per hour.
But more methane is coming out of Turkmenistan. Here, at the places where oil and gas come out, 12 such points have been found from where about 40,000 kg of methane is spreading in the atmosphere every hour. But the scientific community believes that this is not the only reason for the methane spike after 2006.
This is not even half of it. A very large part is being released from the jungles. Especially those jungles that were previously present on permafrost.
Now, because permafrost is melting, the fossils in the ground are quickly decomposing and leaving methane gas. Because of which the spike of methane gas is being seen. The biggest problem with methane gas is that if it is included in the air, then it is very difficult to collect it.
It is very easy to collect methane gas in landfills or gas fields. But the gas coming out of the jungles cannot be collected. Even methane gas from many modern landfills is collected and used for energy generation.
Its by-product is carbon dioxide, which is dangerous, but less than methane. Methane gas can remain in the atmosphere for up to 10 years, and then it turns into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Now the problem is that no doubt such methane levels have been detected in the earth before, like 12,000 years ago.
But whenever the earth has released so much methane, it was time for the end of the ice age. And at this time, when the glaciers have already melted to a large extent, such levels of methane have never been seen before. And maybe this is a sign that now the earth is going to go into another phase.
But to be honest, it is very difficult to predict whether the ice age will end completely or we are going to enter a new ice age. Because the scientific community has no special reference point in the history of the earth which shows that after 12,000 years, the levels of methane have again increased to such an extent. And we don’t even know how far these levels will go.
And if this is really happening not because of humans, but naturally, then it is impossible to stop it.