A bomb is stored at the bottom of the Arctic seas, which is hundreds of times more dangerous than all the volcanoes on Earth combined. It is methane gas, emanating from the depths of the planet and filling colossal areas of the ocean floor.

While it is in a "frozen" state. However, as the climate warms, it begins to free itself from its “ice captivity”. It should be borne in mind that methane, entering the atmosphere, creates a greenhouse effect 30 times faster than carbon dioxide.

An increase in the greenhouse effect on the planet will cause an even greater increase in the melting of "frozen" methane, which, in turn, will cause even greater warming. This phenomenon is called the "methane flywheel". It is quite possible that thanks to this "flywheel" by 2100, the Earth by its own climatic conditions will become like Venus ...

THOUSANDS OF GIGATONS OF METHANE ARE READY TO EXPLORE THE ATMOSPHERE

Methane in the form of so-called methane ice, or methane hydrates, is concentrated in huge quantities at the bottom of the World Ocean. In "methane ice" methane gas is "packed" very tightly: 1 cubic meter of "ice" gives about 1000 "cubic" of gas.

"Methane ice" is formed on deep seaah at high pressure and low temperature. Under such conditions, the mechanism of self-preservation of methane is triggered when it turns into methane hydrate - an ice-like formation that does not lend itself to decomposition.

However, with the smallest changes environment methane hydrates begin to decompose. A "gas reservoir" is formed, which at one fine moment bursts out to the surface in a huge bubble.

For the first time, methane hydrate deposits on the ocean floor were discovered in the 1960s. In the 1970s, they were found on the Arctic shelf (the shelf is the underwater edge of the mainland, adjacent to it and similar to it geological structure), as well as on land, in the Siberian permafrost.

Already in this century, scientists from the Geological Institute in Zurich, who have been engaged in the deposits of methane hydrates at the bottom of the World Ocean for many years, have calculated that methane in the entire "methane ice" on the planet contains about 10 thousand gigatons, while now it is in the atmosphere of "everything" 5 gigatons.

In their article published in the online version of the journal Nature Geoscience, they argue that the amount of methane that has entered the atmosphere from the seabed has increased significantly in the past decade. Scientists associate the melting of "methane ice" with global warming, affecting the temperature of the deep ocean waters.

There is a version that the melting of methane hydrates is caused by warming crust, which is provoked by the accelerated displacement of the magnetic poles. Recently, the website Poteplenie.Ru published a forecast by the Anglo-American scientific group about the possible imminent destruction of about one tenth of all reserves of oceanic "methane ice" - provided that global warming continues at the same pace as now.

Based on these calculations, scientists at the Institute of Energy Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences have made an approximate calculation of the warming effect from such an increase in methane concentration. Calculations have shown that by the end of this century, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere will increase by about 300 times, which will cause such a change in climate, in which life! people on Earth will be almost impossible.

"METHANE ICE" MELTS ON THE SHELF OF SIBERIA

More recently, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) predicted warming by the end of the 21st century in the range from 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius. However, the most recent calculations, including the impact of human activities on the greenhouse effect, increased the amount of possible warming to 10 degrees.

Research recent years show that the World Ocean is also warming. Warming up of its deep waters in this century can be 3 degrees or more. And a temperature rise of only 1-1.5 degrees, scientists say, can disrupt the current "frozen" state of methane hydrates and lead to their decay.

Studies of water temperature in the North Atlantic, carried out in the early 1990s, showed that the water here warmed up by 0.2 degrees compared to the 1970s. More recent studies conducted both by traditional methods and modern methods acoustic thermometry, showed that over the past 50 years, the water temperature in the Arctic Ocean in the layer up to three thousand meters has increased on average from 0.47 to 0.61 degrees.

In connection with the warming, the state of the "methane ice" deposits on the largest continental shelf of the planet - the Siberian shelf, where the "methane ice" occurs at shallow depths, sometimes only a few tens of meters, attracts especially close attention of scientists.

Currently, this "ice" is melting intensively. Only he, according to the calculations of specialists from the University of Fairbanks (Alaska), annually supplies the atmosphere with about 17 teragrams of methane (1 teragram is equal to 1 million tons).

This is a significant share in the total volume of methane annually entering the atmosphere from various sources, including technogenic ones. Russian scientists Natalya Shakhova and Igor Semiletov have been studying methane hydrates at the bottom of the smallest of the Arctic seas - the Laptev Sea for more than 10 years.

It is believed that methane has been "frozen" here since the Ice Age, when sea levels were much lower. During their last expedition in the summer and winter of 2012, scientists many times observed the emergence of bubbles of "thawed" methane on the water surface. In some places, small bubbles came to the surface almost continuously. Large bubbles were also observed. They burst out with a characteristic pop and caused quite high waves.

DISAPPEARANCE OF SHIPS IN THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE CAUSED BY METHANE BUBBLES

Russian scientists in their report write about the danger of large methane bubbles for floating vehicles. With a high concentration of gas in water, its density decreases so much that the water cannot withstand a heavy vessel and it sinks rapidly. This theory is confirmed by experiment: the water in the pool in a very short period of time was saturated with methane, as a result of which all objects floating in the pool went to the bottom.

With the current warming of ocean waters, which has affected the deep layers, the outflows of huge methane bubbles have become much more frequent. One incredibly large bubble that surfaced in the western Indian Ocean was observed by astronauts from orbit. Any floating craft caught in the epicenter of such a bubble will sink in a matter of seconds.

The sudden outbursts of methane from marine deposits explain, in particular, the disappearance of ships in B Bermuda Triangle, the Devil's Sea and some other places where large accumulations of methane ice lie at the bottom. In this respect, the arctic ones pose a particular danger.

In August 2012, in the Laptev Sea, the bottom "near the coast, in clear weather, calm water, in front of a dozen eyewitnesses, a boat with three fishermen suddenly drowned. “There was a loud bang on our right,” said Vasily Nikolayev, 62, who was fishing in his boat. And in that direction Symonenko and his comrades were just hunted.

I looked there, and there everything seemed to be in a haze. The air itself trembles. Symonenko's boat is also shaking, and suddenly she disappeared. And from where there was a haze, strong waves began. I have heard before from fellow fishermen that sometimes it claps at sea. One day I heard a clap myself. But that it can pull the boat with people - I would not believe if I saw it with my own eyes.

"THE DECOMPOSITION OF SHELF METHANHYDRATES IS A REAL CATASTROPHE"

The Shakhova and Semiletov expedition periodically measured the temperature of the seawater surface on the shelf of the Laptev Sea and drilled the bottom to find out whether the methane deposits were still in a "frozen" state. As a result, it was established that the water in the bottom layers of the Arctic seas in some places heats up over the summer by more than 7 degrees Celsius.

For this reason, some bottom sediments of methane have already been “thawed” (for example, not far from the Lena River delta) and are throwing hundreds of cubic meters of gas onto the surface, etc. “Evaporation of methane from methane hydrate sediments on the Siberian shelf has a negative impact not only on the Arctic region, but also on the climate of the entire globe, ”N. Shakova believes.

In turn, the professor University of Cambridge Peter Wodhams - and the head of the Anglo-American research group studying current state Arctic, notes that the melting of methane hydrates on the Siberian shelf began only recently. “The massive breakdown of shelf methane hydrates can be a real disaster,” he emphasizes.

Wodhams and his colleagues have calculated that the release of methane from the Siberian shelf in just a decade could raise the planet's temperature by about 0.6 degrees Celsius.

“POINT OF NO RETURN” PASSED?

Methane deposits on land also attract close attention of scientists around the world. With the current warming, they pose no less danger to the Earth's climate than deposits at the bottom of the oceans. Siberian permafrost stores huge reserves of methane. Formed more than 10 thousand years ago in the last ice age, the giant frozen swamps of Western Siberia constantly generate methane in themselves.

Their ice traps this gas, partly from inside the planet, and partly produced by microbes living in the soil. Today, in summer, the permafrost thaws deeper than before, and along the edges it gradually disappears altogether, and tons of methane, "stored" in the past centuries, enter the atmosphere. All this leads to an increase in global warming on the planet, which, in turn, leads to an even greater melting of "methane ices".

In the press, this process was called "methane flywheel". The first studies of methane deposits in permafrost began in the 1990s. However, very little is known about how much methane the permafrost emits into the atmosphere. According to various estimates, for the Arctic as a whole, including the shelf and land, this is from 20 to 100 million tons per year. Most scientists in the West believe that the "point of no return" in the process of melting permafrost has been passed.

Climate warming has already led to the active disintegration of "methane ice" in Siberia and the Arctic Ocean. The chain reaction has started. The release of Arctic methane provokes an active melting of icebergs and the planet's ice cover and intensifies warming, since methane is much better than other gases at retaining heat in the atmosphere. “Our attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by means of quotas are ridiculous,” says Professor J. Worgate from Michigan in this regard. - Take a look at the tundra.

This is its methane now the main source of warming, and it is impossible to keep it with any quotas or bans. ”“ Methane ice ”is melting everywhere now, but, as Russian experts believe, Arctic methane deposits, held back only by a relatively thin crust of ice, are melting much more intensively than similar deposits. in other regions of the Earth.

Scientists do not undertake to predict when the large-scale release of Arctic methane will begin. But if warming continues at the current rate, such a release will begin around 2030. As a result, the greenhouse effect on the planet will increase manifold. By the middle of the century, the amount of precipitation on the planet will sharply increase, the flooding of lowland areas will begin, hot periods will become more frequent, the quality of water will deteriorate, yields will decrease and the rapid development of pathogenic microbes will begin.

However, the main danger of the greenhouse effect is the escape of water vapor into space, dehydration of the planet, and its transformation into a kind of present Venus or Mars.

Igor Voloznev

Irkutsk limnologists are exploring the fuel of the future, located in the bottom sediments of the lake

At the beginning of September this year, scientists from all over the world gathered in Listvyanka to learn about the achievements of scientists from the Irkutsk Limnological Institute in the field of research on gas hydrates, which are already called the fuel of the future. Scientists from China, Japan, Belgium, Germany and the United States came to Lake Baikal to learn about another secret of the unique lake hidden in its bottom sediments - about methane ice.

What is burning ice?

Under the incomprehensible chemical term "gas hydrates" there is a rather simple phenomenon - it is loose ice, consisting of a mixture of water and methane, which is formed when special conditions, that is, with a combination of high pressure and low temperatures. At five degrees Celsius, this compound forms at a depth of three hundred to six hundred meters. From regular ice it differs only in that when it is raised to the surface, it begins to decompose into water and methane, which is capable of burning: if you bring a match, you can amaze everyone with the spectacle of burning ice.

Research and industrial development of gas hydrates is now one of the most promising energy projects around the world. This unusual combination of water and gas, among other hydrocarbons such as oil and gas, is considered the fuel of the future.

Baikal is the only freshwater body of water in the world, in the depths of which gas hydrates have been found. Its history goes back 25 million years, during which time about seven and a half kilometers of sediments have accumulated at the bottom, in which methane is constantly being formed.

Nobody offers to extract hydrates on Lake Baikal. This question does not arise at all in Russia - we have enough natural gas and oil. But today the question of the industrial use of hydrates is very relevant for countries with access to oceans or inland seas, - said Oleg Khlystov, head of the laboratory of geology of Baikal at the Institute of Limnology. - For example, Japan and India are very interested in our developments. In 2005, Indians came to us, took part in two expeditions. Although vast reserves of hydrates are assumed in the Indian Ocean, for the first time they held them in their hands only on Baikal. We have been cooperating with Japan for five years already and every year we conduct joint expeditions.

The advantage of Baikal is that, unlike the seas, research in winter can be carried out directly from the ice surface. Now scientists set themselves the task of working out on Baikal - as on an experimental site - the technology of industrial production of gas hydrates, which will subsequently be used all over the world.

Miners will be presented with bouquets powered by methane

In addition to studying hydrates as a fuel for the future, scientists of the Limnological Institute of the SB RAS are also interested in other related problems. For example, how does the absorption of excess methane occur on Baikal, what effect does this gas have on the lake's ecosystem, is there any harm from it.

Small methane emissions on Baikal constantly occur in shallow waters - in the Selenga delta, on the Posolskaya gully, in Babushkina Bay. In these places, it just comes out in bubbles to the surface.

We already know that the Baikal ecosystem has adapted to the constant release of methane from the bottom of the lake. In particular, there are different types microorganisms that process methane, - says the scientific secretary of the institute Tamara Zemskaya.

While studying the bacteria that absorb methane on Lake Baikal, scientists came to the conclusion that it would be advisable to use them in mines. Theoretically speaking, the enzymes of Baikal microorganisms can be transplanted into ordinary plants. Methane explosions in the coal-mining regions of Russia bring us tragedy after tragedy. And as one of the ways to secure the mines, scientists suggest using these plants that feed on methane.

100 great secrets of the Earth Volkov Alexander Viktorovich

Are methane ice promising good times?

The reserves of energy resources on our planet are large, even if you do not take into account oil or coal. Vast deposits of methane hydrate, or methane ice, cover the seabed, resting among the permafrost. If we manage to master them, then humanity will be provided with energy for many decades, maybe even centuries ahead, economists say.

Methane ice will be the fuel of tomorrow as traditional resources begin to dry up. So far, only a few countries that have practically no oil or gas, such as Japan, are interested in its industrial production. But is this new energy source really available? Will the dream of him burst like a soap bubble, like those methane bubbles that constantly rise from the seabed to instantly dissolve in water or dissipate in air?

The debate about the energy of the future continues, and therefore it is all the more important to study methane ice, to understand how it is formed and what problems may arise when developing its reserves. By all appearances, it will not be so easy to take advantage of nobody's wealth.

Methane hydrate looks like ordinary ice covered with snow. It is a compound of water and methane, which is formed only at temperatures from 2 to 4 ° C and a pressure of at least 20 atmospheres. That is why its deposits are located either in the polar regions or in the depths of the ocean. It is often called flammable ice, because if you bring a match to this whitish lump, it will flare up. The gas trapped in the water ice will ignite.

If you bring a match to a lump of methane ice, it will flash

The crystal structure of this hydrate is unique. Methane molecules are wedged into "cells" made up of water molecules. The "cells" are incredibly crowded. It is calculated that one cubic meter of methane hydrate contains 0.8 cubic meters of water and… 164 cubic meters of methane. When ice melts, all the methane accumulated in its crystals escapes into the atmosphere.

They became interested in methane ice only in the 1930s, when it turned out that during the transportation of gas in the polar regions, the pipes freeze from the inside, ice forms in them. In the 1960s, this unusual ice was discovered in Siberia and North America when drilling in permafrost zones. In the 1970s, Soviet scientists found methane hydrate at the bottom of the Black Sea, proving that underwater deposits of this substance are apparently widespread.

Under natural conditions, methane hydrate is formed primarily on the continental slopes. There is a lot of plankton here, and when the smallest organisms that make up it die off, a huge amount of organic material settles to the bottom of the ocean. Bacteria break down organic matter, resulting in the release of methane. At certain pressures and temperatures, it “freezes into the water”. This is how the layers of methane ice grow. They occur, as a rule, at a depth of 400 to 1000 meters - where the water is very cold and the pressure is high. But in the deep-sea part of the ocean there are no deposits of hydrates, because there is little organic matter.

So, the bottom of the continental slopes is covered with thick layers of methane ice. Sometimes their thickness exceeds a thousand meters. Ice floes are hammered into voids inside the rock, filling all cavities between stones. Even loose layers of sand are frozen through and through by the icy grains that penetrated them.

In addition to the seabed, large deposits of methane hydrate are found in the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, as well as in permafrost regions in northern Russia and America, Here they lie at a depth of about half a kilometer and below. Their thickness reaches several hundred meters. In the United States, both of the most explored deposits are located onshore on the Beaufort Sea in the Prado Bay area. In the cold climate of Alaska, these deposits are stable. So Alaska is rightly called the most important energy treasury of the United States. Its reserves will be enough to make the country independent from energy imports for many decades.

Obviously, many deposits of methane ice have not yet been discovered. Meanwhile, they are available not only in the open ocean, but also in the Black, Azov and Mediterranean seas, as well as in the Caspian Sea (but the Baltic Sea is shallow for the appearance of its own belt of methane ice).

Hydrate reserves seem almost limitless. According to the US Geological Survey, "Gas hydrates contain twice as much carbon as any fossil fuel known to us." According to the UN International Climate Change Council, published in 2009, the total energy intensity of methane hydrate deposits ranges from 15 to 200 thousand trillion kilowatt-hours. For comparison: the level of annual energy consumption on our planet is estimated at about 150 trillion kilowatt-hours. Are methane ice promising good times?

... But again and again voices of experts are heard, who believe that the extraction of methane ice on an industrial scale is unacceptable, since it is associated with problems that are difficult to solve. Indeed, these "icebergs", pressed down by the water column to the continental slopes, contain a huge amount of the greenhouse gas - methane.

Methane hydrate is very unstable. When pulled to the surface, it quickly melts, turning into a puddle of water and a trickle of methane above it. So, with the uncontrolled extraction of hydrate, and even with the current level of technology, a significant part of the methane will simply evaporate, which will only increase global warming. Methane, as a greenhouse gas, is much more efficient than carbon dioxide, which emissions into the atmosphere are unsuccessfully fought by all conventions and conferences. It will warm not only the homes and apartments of our children and grandchildren, but the entire planet. According to the calculations of the American geologist William Dillon, over the past 100 years, the contribution of methane to temperature increases has been 23 times more noticeable than carbon dioxide.

The danger also lies in the fact that during the development of the upper layers of the deposit, the entire glacier begins to melt. Methane is spontaneously released from the underlying layers. But they cement loose sedimentary deposits, protecting the continental slopes from landslides. When the "cement" evaporates, the entire slope collapses like a castle built of sand. The length of such landslides can reach tens of kilometers. Shocks in the depths of the sea will also resonate on its surface, generating a powerful wave - a tsunami.

But even if you leave the deposits of methane ice alone and do not develop them, they can become a source of danger in the future, since large amounts of methane will be released into the atmosphere both with an increase in the temperature of the World Ocean and with the melting of permafrost. The more it warms up sea \u200b\u200bwater, the more noticeably the zone of methane hydrate stability decreases.

Something similar already happened in the history of our planet about 55 million years ago, at the turn of the Paleocene and Eocene. Then the average temperature on Earth was 4-5 ° higher than now. Scientists believe the massive melting of methane ice is the cause of this global warming. As a result, a huge amount of methane was released into the atmosphere - the so-called "methane belching" occurred. For several tens of millennia, many species of plants and animals have become extinct, primarily foraminifera, the simplest inhabitants of the ancient seas.

Environmentalists are increasingly recalling the story of the "methane belch". But will not everything come to this after "some" several millennia?

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A potential source of energy - gas hydrates - is formed in the depths of the sea, as well as in thick geological sediments in permafrost conditions.
Source: newspaper Handelsblatt

The fact that methane is contained in coal seams has been known for a long time. It is the main component of natural gases in coal seams not affected by the processes of gas weathering (demethanization). The concentration of methane in the mixture of natural gases of coal seams is 80–98%. However, few people know that significant gas reserves are hidden at sea depths of 500 m or more.

Molecules of frozen methane, or methane ice-methanol hydrate (interconnected molecules of water and methane), are formed at a pressure of at least 50 bar and temperatures of 2-4 degrees Celsius. It is at sea depths of 500 m that similar conditions prevail. At room temperature, methane ice melts. The size of these molecules depends on their age, depth, and location. The deeper and older the molecules are, the larger they are and can reach 0.6 mm. They grow especially actively in porous sands. Scientists from the United States and Germany, according to the German economic and financial newspaper Handelsblatt, are showing great interest in studying their nature and possible methods of extraction. As the well-known Russian gas scientist Aleksey Khaytun told NG-Energiya, no research on gas hydrates is being carried out in Russia.

In such deposits of methane ice, scientists note, there is twice as much energy hidden than in all currently explored reserves of coal, oil and natural gas combined. But the main thing is that it is a renewable resource, as methane molecules appear over and over again. Moreover, methane is considered a fairly clean energy carrier, since its combustion does not generate soot, sulfur and carbon monoxide, but only carbon dioxide.

Now there are disputes between scientists about the possibility of organizing industrial production of methane ice, since it is distributed over a large area and it is not so easy to organize its collection. As Stephan Klapp of the University of Bremen's Research Center for Sea and Environmental Studies at the University of Bremen points out to the Handelsblatt newspaper, methane ice could be a promising successor to oil and natural gas. The whole task is to learn how to get it. Stefan Klapp agreed to answer the questions of NG-Energiya.

- What is the energy potential of the new energy source?

- Gas hydrates, including methane hydrates, are solids, in which natural gas is accumulated, primarily methane. If it were possible to collect methane from the bottom of the seas, then it could be used as natural gas known to us for energy production. But along the way, a number of problems arise. They boil down to the following.

Gas hydrates are only stable at high pressures and relatively low temperatures. This necessary pressure occurs at depths of several hundred meters. This means that these compounds can only be found in the depths of the sea. It follows from this that for their extraction it is necessary to create new technologies for working in the sea depths. Moreover, such a technique should be able to ensure the transport and preservation of these compounds on the surface of the Earth, since otherwise they are easily decomposed into water and gas.

- Where are the methane hydrate deposits and how can they be geographically distributed?

- Gas hydrates are formed in the depths of the sea, as well as in thick geological deposits in permafrost conditions. Such conditions are typical for Canada and the northern regions of Russia. At sea, gas hydrates can be found in the Black Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Canada, Peru, New Zealand, on the island of Okinawa, Pakistan and elsewhere. In principle, the formation of gas hydrates requires not only high pressure and cold, but also methane. In turn, methane is created as a result of microbiological activity during the decomposition of organic matter or by thermocatalytic processes of decomposition of hydrocarbons - for example, oil. Only if the gas dissolved in water surpasses a certain stage of saturation at the appropriate pressure and temperature, the formation of gas hydrates occurs. Many scientists believe that on the continuation of continental shelves in the seas and oceans, gas hydrates may exist, since there are ideal conditions for their formation.

- When can you start producing gas hydrates and what is needed for this?

- Theoretically, humanity is already in a position to start such exploitation of the sea depths and permafrost zones. R&D consortia have already conducted successful test drilling in Northern Canada. The Japanese are actively working on the industrial use of gas hydrates. The main issue for today is the issue of efficiency. Now for many states the extraction of other energy carriers is of higher priority than gas hydrates. They are much more expensive to extract than oil and natural gas and therefore less efficient. At the moment when the rise in the cost of production of traditional hydrocarbons will come finest hour for gas hydrates. The problem of utilizing the gas released from gas hydrates under normal conditions has already been solved by a number of companies, including Canadian ones.

- What technologies are needed to use this energy source?

- There are three methods to defrost gas hydrates. The first is chemical additives that are directed into the borehole and serve to destabilize gas hydrates. As a result, hydrates decompose into water and gas, which rises and is captured by devices. The second is the thermal decomposition of gas hydrates using hot water... The third is an artificial decrease in pressure in gas hydrate formations, which leads to their decomposition and release of gas.

Many scientific institutions are now working on the search for technologies that allow transporting gas hydrates in their original form to gas-fired power plants. To do this, it is necessary to change them so that they no longer remain stable, but do not yet decompose - the so-called metastable state.

Image copyright NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI Image caption Pluto's surface is a dynamic system

Scientists have found evidence of frozen methane dunes on Pluto.

According to the study, the results of which were published in the journal Science, the relief of this distant dwarf planet more diverse than previously thought.

• Where does the solar system end?
• Scientists have noticed the birth of a new planet from stardust

Previously, it was assumed that Pluto's atmosphere is too rarefied and does not possess the qualities that are inherent in the atmosphere of our planet - for example, it cannot form dunes and dunes.

The discovery was made after analyzing photographs taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which flew near Pluto in July 2015.

The space probe flew to the planet for almost 10 years, rushing past Pluto at a speed of almost 60 thousand km / h.

Image copyright NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI Image caption Dunes occupy a large part of the Sputnik Valley at the bottom of this image.

In their study, the scientists described how they studied photographs of the Sputnik Plain, partially covered by what looked like dunes. In the neighborhood there is a chain of ice mountains about 5 km high.

The researchers concluded that the dunes are at a distance of 400-1000 m from each other and consist of frozen methane ice, the size of which is about 200-300 micrometers in diameter. This roughly corresponds to the size of the grains of sand we are used to.

The project was led by Matt Telfer, a physical geographer at the University of Plymouth.

"We cannot see every grain of sand, but we can identify the dunes and their physical characteristicsand the density of the atmosphere in which they formed, "he told the BBC.

Image copyright NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI Image caption On a large part of Pluto's surface, methane ice can form not dunes, but sastrugs

"We can also measure some basic indicators, for example, the distance of the dunes from each other, as well as the approximate speed of the winds that form them. Then we can enter these data into a physical model, on the basis of which we can assume the approximate weight of such a grain of sand," he explained he.

Dune formation requires an atmosphere of a density that will allow the winds to carry material, as well as a supply of dry particles and a mechanism by which particles will be lifted from the surface.

At first it seemed that there were no such conditions on Pluto.

But Telfer and his colleagues have calculated that the dunes may be located on the surface of Pluto, where the strongest winds on the planet blow, reaching speeds of 10 meters per second, which is enough to carry particles of this size.

Such winds are generated by descending flows of gases from the tops of the surrounding mountains, as well as due to the process of sublimation of methane ice, that is, its transition from solid to gaseous state.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that snow lies on the slopes of the mountains on Pluto, consisting of methane and, possibly, nitrogen, which, under certain conditions, is carried by winds into the valleys.

The driving force behind this process may be the warming up of the atmosphere by the Sun, which raises the temperature above minus 230 degrees Celsius, that is, the freezing point of nitrogen.

When the ice in the surface layers of the soil heats up, the methane crystals transfer their energy to the ice from solid nitrogen, which promotes its sublimation and allows the methane ice crystals to be blown into the atmosphere by the wind.

Image copyright NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI Image caption Previously, few people assumed the presence of an active atmosphere on Pluto

"We understand now that this heavenly body is on the outskirts Solar system It is not a frozen planetoid at all - in fact, it is a dynamic world that is constantly changing to this day, ”says Telfer.

These thoughts are reflected in an article by Professor Alexander Hayes, an astronomer at Cornell University in Ithaca, USA, which is also published in Science.

He quotes the late Sir Patrick Moore, the famous host of the BBC's "Night Sky", who, as early as 1955, wrote of Pluto as a planet immersed in an eternal night, where darkness, silence and cold reign.

As the astronomer points out, it is time to revisit these old ideas. According to him, scientists are now confident that Pluto is a geologically diverse and dynamic world, in which there is internal heat, and the change of seasons, and the sublimation of surface ice.

He emphasizes that Pluto is not the farthest body from the Sun in our planetary system, but rather represents an "outpost" on the way to the unexplored regions of the Kuiper belt.

Image copyright NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Steve Gribben Image caption In January 2019, the New Horizons probe will fly past the asteroid 2014 MU69

Along the way, it became clear that the dune landscape is typical for a number of planets and other objects of our solar system - Venus, Mars, Saturn's satellite Titan and even comet 67P.

At the moment, the New Horizons space probe is approaching another object in the Kuiper belt - the trans-Neptunian asteroid 2014 MU69.

Next week, a team will be sent on board to activate its onboard systems, and the rendezvous with this celestial body will take place on January 1, 2019.