Siberia methane emissions double

Siberian methane emissions have doubled in a decade: new UK research

Methane emissions from Siberia have more than doubled over the past decade, according to new research co-led by scientists at the University of Edinburgh’s National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO). The international research team, including NCEO scientists based at the University of Edinburgh, analyzed satellite and atmospheric data spanning 2010 to 2023. They found that methane emissions across Siberia have been rising by around 5% per year, with emissions during the summer growing season now more than twice as high as in 2010.

This alarming report was released August 2026. Much of this RCC article is taken from that source. While the science is complex, the cause is not that complex: permafrost is thawing rapidly, releasing CH₄that had been trapped for millennia.

In western Siberia, warmer and wetter conditions are boosting methane production in wetlands

In eastern Siberia, hotter and drier conditions are fueling wildfires, which release methane and further destabilize the tundra ecosphere.

Ignored by almost all corporate media, CH₄ is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO₂

The focus on CO₂ as the primary greenhouse gas is accurate as far as it goes. But as far as major threats to the future of the planet, the methane molecule represents additional unknown factor contributing to the speed of warming. While misinformation specialists can make CO₂ sound benign or even beneficial, applying that argument to methane is far less credible. Methane blows up. Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, trapping significantly more heat than carbon dioxide over short time periods and is an emerging major contributor to global warming flying under the radar.

Methane arctic effects

methane-levels-increase

It’s not just Siberia: Global methane levels are still surging

Methane has always occurred naturally, but human-caused sources have increased exponentially. One of the surprising origins are wetlands, which are now producing

Atmospheric methane reached about 1,936.6 parts per billion (ppb) in 2025, roughly 2.66 times its preindustrial concentration. NOAA researchers report that methane growth averaged about 7.8 ppb/year during 2023–2025, compared with an extraordinary 15.2 ppb/year during 2020–2022.

“While misinformation specialists can make CO₂ sound benign or even beneficial, applying that argument to

methane is trickier. Because Methane blows up.”

Methane feedback

A relentless feedback loop: As Arctic permafrost thaw accelerates, more CH4 is released into the atmosphere, which warms the planet further, which melts more permafrost, etc. etc.

Casual followers of climate collapse science are familiar with feedbacks such as albedo and wildfire cycles, but the permafrost collapse sequence is not obvious until your hear it. Then you can’t unhear it.

Scientists are not yet certain how damaging this cycle could become, but it raises the risk of long-term change. Over time, the Arctic could shift from storing carbon in frozen ground to releasing increasing amounts into the atmosphere.

Don’t get “total accumulation” and rate of increase” confused.

This is how they do it: Atmospheric methane reached about 1,936.6 parts per billion (ppb) in 2025, roughly 2.66 times its preindustrial concentration. NOAA researchers report that methane growth averaged about 7.8 ppb/year during 2023–2025, compared with an extraordinary 15.2 ppb/year during 2020–2022. The misinformation gang characterizes this as good news: the quantity of methane spewed into the atmosphere the past few years has declined (temporarily). The quantity of methane that has accumulated continues to rise. There is more each year. End of story.

It’s not science fiction if it’s real. We don’t know how much methane is down there, or what else is lurking

Scientists estimate that permafrost buried beneath the Arctic Ocean holds 60 billion tons of methane and 560 billion tons of organic carbon — making it a major source of greenhouse gases that is not currently included in climate projections. Methane has caused around 30% of all human-caused global warming since the Industrial Revolution. Most methane emissions come from human activity – including from the fossil fuel industry, landfill sites and agriculture. However, 40% of methane emissions are from natural sources but with a big caveat: Wetlands have become the world’s largest natural source of methane emissions with alarming increases reported in the past few years. The reason is that these ecosystems give off more carbon dioxide and methane as they heat up, accelerating decomposition.

Additional Rapid Climate Change Articles

Previous stories on methane and permafrost.

The Arctic Methane Monster

CONSIDER THIS SUMMER YOUR CLIMATE EMERGENCY ANNOUCEMENT

It’s really here and you are on your own

Summer 2023 was the hottest month planet wide in 120,000 years

This is the hottest summer endured by human civilization, but the context is even more alarming. In a nutshell, during the La Nina cycle that just ended, the planet recorded the eight hottest years on record. But La Nina is associated with a cooling cycle. With El Nino just beginning, there is really no telling what will transpire.

Salt water entering New Orleans water supply

Emergency declaration as extended drought pushes salt water into Mississippi River estuary

Both the state of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans have issued emergence declarations as the city that should not be there acknowledged the threat to its drinking water supply. Saltwater from the Gulf is entering the river due to drought-driven low water levels.

For those who rely on the Mississippi River for drinking water, the saltwater intrusion is a potential health risk, as high concentrations of salt in drinking water may cause people to develop increased blood pressure and corrode drinking water infrastructure.

Halifax sees lethal flooding in “Biblical” event

10″ of rain in 24 hours kills four in “under the radar” disaster

Halifax and Nova Scotia did not make the news in August when an extreme storm smacked into the city and surrounding area, but the resulting flooding

“We need to understand that all of these things are pounding away at our infrastructure, at our roads and our culverts. So even though we get past one event, it might be a hurricane and then we have the fire and then we have the rain. They’re all taking an impact on infrastructure.”

Mike Savage, Halifax mayor. infrastructure, just like ourselves, is being pounded by cumulative weather events,’ Halifax mayor says.

September 2023 hottest ever

Following the warmest summer ever recorded, September continues the alarming trend

This month will be recorded as the hottest September ever recorded planet wide according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. It ties and most likely exceeds that record set in 2016.

“The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting. Climate breakdown has begun.

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Scientists say the extreme heat contributed to this summer’s epic ocean storms, wildfires, flooding, and droughts. In North America and Europe, such heat would have been “virtually impossible” had humans not warmed the planet with fossil fuel emissions.

12,000+ Dead In Libyan Storm Onslaught

“People are using shovels to get the bodies from underneath the ground, they are using their own hands. They all say it’s like doomsday.”

A Mediterranean cyclone brought 16 inches of rain in 24 hours to eastern Libya, driving a ten foot tsunami wall that destroyed dams, bridges and infrastructure in the process of setting a new rainfall record. This is more than a year’s rainfall in a place so dry that no permanent river runs through it. Storm Daniel is a Medicane,, a term coined to describe the increasingly violent weather impacting the regions as the globe heats

Around 10,000 more are missing and 30,000 displaced in Derna, a city of 100,000. Many are believed swept out to sea or buried in rubble..

Antarctic Ice Melting Even Faster Than predicted.

The size of ice volume lost this year in Antarctica is about the area of Argentina

Antarctica is likely warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world and faster than climate change models are predicting, with potentially far-reaching implications for global sea level rise, according to a scientific study.

In West Antarctica, a region considered particularly vulnerable to warming with an ice sheet that could push up global sea levels by several metres if it collapsed, the study found warming at twice the rate suggested by climate models.

Climate scientists have long expected that polar regions would warm faster than the rest of the planet – a phenomenon known as polar amplification – and this has been seen in the Arctic.

Hurricane Lee is the latest example of how heating waters drive rapid intensification.

Hurricane Lee Is A Record Breaking Monster

In spite of the fact that it will not likely be newsworthy, this kind of rapid intensification is the new normal-ish

In it’s early incarnation, Hurricane Lee went from 80MPH to 165 MPH (Cat 5) winds in 24 hours, the third fastest intensification on record. The storm has stayed mostly in the ocean and will therefore not get the kind of coverage it warrants. Sooner or later one of these will come ashore.

Hurricane Lee’s wind field expanded Thursday, with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 105 miles from the center, with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 350 miles.

Irony of the Year: Fertile Crescent No Longer Fertile

“The Fresh Water is Finished”

The “cradle of civilization” is drying rapidly, driving inhabitants from their ancestral lands between the Tigris and Euphrates. Locals once lived self-sufficient lives in the Iraq Marshlands, making traditional livings fishing and herding Water Buffalo. The epicenter of the slo-mo disaster is the city of Basra, once known as the Venice of the East. About 40% of Iraq has already been overtaken by sand.

Canada Wildfires Move North As 20,000 Evacuated

With hundreds of wildfires already sweeping through BC and Quebec, Canada’s worst wildfire season just got worse as the disaster moves into the Northwest Territories. In Yellowknife, a mandatory evacuation order went into effect creating a chaotic scene as long lines of cars queued for miles to flee along the only road out of town.

Killer Sandstorm + All Time Record High For Morocco

Panic and death as skies turns orange in capital city

A popular tourist destination, the Mediterranean nation registered a new record high of 122°F in mid-August as a lethal sand storm swept through Marakesh, driven by 70 MPH winds. At least one person was killed.

Firestorms in Maui kill hundreds

Hawaii’s Worst Disaster In History:

Hundreds are dead or missing as hurricane force winds ignited drought stricken fields, forests and neighborhoods. The historic seaside town of Lahaina has been reduced to ash and thousands were evacuated. Desperate tourists ran into the ocean to escape the flames.

Thwaites “Doomsday” Ice Shelf Melts From Below

Dubbed the Doomsday Glacier because of it’s potential to raise sea levels around the world very rapidly, the Thwaite’s ice shelf in West Antarctic is melting from below. Ice shelves are hybrid formations that float on land and help slow the flow of trillions of tons of land ice to the ocean.

Sri Lanka all time heat record August

Endless record heat in Sri Lanka with a new August record pulverized at Ratnapura today with 37.2C Record heat is also in the Philippines (Tmins >29C),Vietnam and Thailand In just 10 days of August about 1/3 of world countries broke heat records, while only Italy had low records.

Scary South America Winter Temps Setting Records

102°F is plenty hot any day most places, but it’s winter in South America and the town of Vicuna, Chile is roasting. And Vicuna is in the Andes Mountains. For perspective, think of August in South America as the equivalent of February in North America.

“South America is living one of the extreme events the world has ever seen,” weather historian Maximiliano Herrera tweeted, adding, “This event is rewriting all climatic books.”

Global emissions continue to climb

The most recent widely ignored warning from climate scientists would be worrisome if anyone was listening. Greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, threatening to push the world into “unprecedented” levels of global heating, scientists have warned. Levels of the big three greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane ( CH4) and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere, continued unprecedented rates of growth during 2022. CO₂ alone increased by nearly 1%, driven in part by switchovers to goal as Russia squeezed the global supply of methane.

Under the radar killer dirt storm in Illinois

The storm came suddenly on a clear cool day and hit the travelers on interstate 55 near Springfield, IL by surprise. The 200 ft high wall of soil blinded drivers, turning the day into utter darkness and sending 84 speeding vehicles crashing into each other. Some caught fire and burned on the highway. The death toll was seven, with vehicles and bodies burned beyond recognition. This is a global warming event, driven by drought and unenlightened industrial ag practices.

Italy smashed by record heat, fires, floods & glacier collapse

The collapse of a glacier in the Dolomites and a landslide on the island of Ischia. Devastating floods, wildfires and record-breaking heatwaves. The worst drought of the Po, Italy’s longest river, in 200 years. Luca Mercalli, an Italian climatologist, has seen his fair share of extreme weather events in Italy within the past two years. But nothing prepared him for the scene in Mortegliano, a small town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the northern region bordering Slovenia.

Salt water incursion threatens açaí crop, Amazon

The climate emergency combined with industrial agriculture in coastal Amazonia are threatening açaí harvests in Brazil’s Macapa region. Soil erosion and the creep of seawater into the freshwater river are changing the berries’ flavor and tainting drinking water.

Seawater began pushing back the river around the delta island archipelago in late 2021, leaving thousands of residents without fresh water.

Record low ice levels in Antarctic winter ice melt

A sharp winter slowdown in Antarctic sea ice growth has added another slo mo catastrophe to the list of climate driven threats. Current levels show a shortfall that is radically rewriting the record books.

Speaking to the New York Times in early August, Ted Scambos (a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder) said: “This year is really different. It’s a very sudden change.”

When sea ice collapses, the trillions of tons of land ice behind it accelerates its flow into the Southern Ocean, raising seas planetwide. The sea ice also plays a role in regulating ocean and air temperatures, potentially affecting marine life from microscopic plankton to the continent’s iconic penguins.0

Global Warming | Global Warning

Methane Emissions Doubled In Siberia Over 10 Years

Siberian methane emissions have doubled in a decade: new UK research

Ignored by almost all corporate media, CH₄ is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO₂

It’s not just Siberia: Global methane levels are still surging

A relentless feedback loop: As Arctic permafrost thaw accelerates, more CH4 is released into the atmosphere, which warms the planet further, which melts more permafrost, etc. etc.

Don’t get “total accumulation” and rate of increase” confused.