Chris Allen, Queen?s University Belfast and Niall English, University College Dublin

Massive greenhouse gas reserves, frozen deep under the seabed, are alarmingly now starting to thaw. That?s according to an international team of scientists whose preliminary findings were recently reported in the Guardian. These deposits, technically called methane ?gas hydrates?, are often described as ?fiery ice? due to the parlour trick of burning atop a Bunsen burner what appears to be ice.

The research is not yet peer-reviewed and has been controversial, with some climate scientists saying the Guardian article makes unsupported claims. We agree that findings should be peer-reviewed before they are reported. But as experts in these exact methane hydrates, we?re more sympathetic than the climate scientists towards the idea that this a serious possibility that we need to start worrying about. So although it…