APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

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APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by APOD Robot » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:08 am

Image Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal

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.

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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by neufer » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:58 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amurian_Plate wrote: <<The Amurian Plate (or Amur Plate) is a minor tectonic plate in the northern and eastern hemispheres. Once thought to be a part of the Eurasian Plate, the Amur Plate is now generally considered to be a separate plate moving southeast with respect to the Eurasian Plate. The Amurian Plate is named after the Amur River, that forms the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Eurasian Plate, on the east by the Okhotsk Plate, to the southeast by the Philippine Sea Plate along the Suruga Trough and the Nankai Trough, and the Okinawa Plate, and the Yangtze Plate. GPS measurements indicate that the plate is slowly rotating counterclockwise. The Amur Plate may have been involved in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China.>>
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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by J W Smith » Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:11 pm

Geology indicates this lake is probably over naturally fracked rocks. Insignificant?

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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by Felix The Hat » Wed Dec 26, 2018 3:23 pm

How big are the bubbles?

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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:12 pm

Felix The Hat wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 3:23 pm How big are the bubbles?
Methane bubbles in frozen lakes range in size up to a few inches.
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neufer
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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by neufer » Wed Dec 26, 2018 7:30 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:12 pm
Felix The Hat wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 3:23 pm
How big are the bubbles?
Methane bubbles in frozen lakes range in size up to a few inches.
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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by johnnydeep » Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:29 pm

How do bubbles become frozen in water like this? Naively, I would think the lake would have to be "flash frozen" while the bubbles were in the process of percolating up!
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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:37 pm

johnnydeep wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:29 pm How do bubbles become frozen in water like this? Naively, I would think the lake would have to be "flash frozen" while the bubbles were in the process of percolating up!
In lakes, the methane rises up from the bed and is trapped beneath, and eventually within, surface ice.
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Re: APOD: Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal (2018 Dec 18)

Post by johnnydeep » Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:51 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:37 pm
johnnydeep wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:29 pm How do bubbles become frozen in water like this? Naively, I would think the lake would have to be "flash frozen" while the bubbles were in the process of percolating up!
In lakes, the methane rises up from the bed and is trapped beneath, and eventually within, surface ice.
Meaning the bubble hits surface ice on its way up through not yet frozen water, and then the surface ice becomes thicker, trapping the bubble? If so, the bubbles would be more like pancakes than spheres, though I can't tell from the pic. [ EDIT: ok, yeah, they do look like pancakes! ]
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