Scientists have found that methane gas is bubbling out from nearly 600 vents on the Atlantic Ocean sea-floor near the East Coast of the United States.
The scientists studying the area discovered seeps, off the coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts while previously only three seepage areas were known in this area.
The research suggests that leakage of methane gas in the US Atlantic has been underestimated and is more widespread than previously thought.
Ocean explorers have expressed concern as the effects of methane gas emission brings a sudden, extreme rise in temperatures, combined with acidification of the oceans.
Researchers believe that most of the leaking methane is produced by microbial process in which the microbes bloom explosively in the oceans, spewing prodigious amounts of methane into the atmosphere and dramatically changing the climate and the chemistry of the oceans.
The present study is published in Nature Geoscience.
