Mushroom
Gold Member
There is of course gas trapped in the ice.How much gas is trapped? Show your work.
However, is it a significant amount of gas?
I did look quickly, and one study estimates around 4 billion metric tons of gasses are trapped in Antarctica. Now that might sound like a hell of a lot of gas, but one realizes that really is insignificant when considering it is a continent that holds ice dating back millions of years.
And there are likely some absolutely huge amounts of gas trapped below the ice. That is because Antarctica was a thriving tropical environment before it became iced over. There are insane amounts of organic matter that is resting under the ice that never decomposed, but is kept eternally frozen.
And someday, that ice is all going to melt. And all of that matter trapped under the ice for over 10 million years is going to finally start rotting and releasing huge amounts of CO2, CH4, and other gasses. Exactly like what is happening today in North America and parts of Europe and Asia where the permafrost is finally melting.