USGS estimates methane hydrates lock up roughly twice as much carbon as all other fossil fuels combined, making “fire ice” one of Earth’s largest potential gas stores.
Deep-ocean pressure and cold Arctic permafrost keep methane trapped in ice-like crystals, but scientists say those vast deposits remain largely uneconomic and technically difficult to extract safely.
Arctic Ocean margins are the main climate concern: researcher James Kennett said some shallow, cold-sensitive zones could become unstable with even 1 degree of warming.
That matters because released methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term, though most global hydrate reserves sit in deeper, more stable settings.