A research team stayed in North East Greenland at Zackenberg Valley research station two months into the winter season which enabled them to compare methane measurements from the frozen tundra with readings taken during the warm summer months. 

The results showed that there was a significant increase in the levels of the greenhouse gas as the freeze began, in fact as much as during summer.

Torben Christensen, a biogeochemist from Sweden’s Lund University, said that scientist had known for some time that wetlands produced large amounts of methane, but considered it unlikely for the gases to escape from beneath the frozen tundra.

Christensen said,   “Mother Nature is showing us something that is really surprising.  This study improves our understanding of how nature is connected to the climate.  In doing that it gives us a better understanding on how climate change is affecting Arctic ecosystems.”