Giant melting peat bog threatens 'ecological landslide'

A MELTING permafrost peat bog stretching across an area the size of France and Germany threatens to unleash vast amounts of powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, scientists have warned.

The huge frozen region, covering a million square kilometres of western Siberia, is rapidly turning into a watery landscape of shallow lakes. Experts fear it could release billions of tonnes of methane trapped in the frozen peat. Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The alert follows research by Sergei Kirpotin, a botanist from Tomsk State University, and Judith Marquand from Oxford University. Prof Kirpotin describes an "ecological landslide that is undoubtedly connected to climatic warning", New Scientist reported.