Gaia's giant farts may be silent but deadly

Scientists have discovered that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed.

Preliminary findings suggest that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.

Gaia, the Greek supreme goddess of Earth, is frequently used to describe the Earth as a single organism.