Featuring C-DEBI researcher Alexander Michaud.

For the first time, scientists have direct observations of methane-eating bacteria in a subglacial lake in Antarctica. The study also provides evidence of increased methane production below the ice sheet.

A subglacial lake 800 metres beneath the frozen surface of West Antarctica might not sound like a hospitable place for life. But that is exactly what scientists have discovered: methane-eating bacteria surviving deep underneath the ice sheet.

It is the first time that scientists have observed these bacteria in action. At the same time, they have also found direct evidence of increased methane production underneath the ice.