What are these strange deep-sea bubbles?

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:01]Ooh, excuse me. By now, you've probably heard [music] that cows burp methane.

[00:00:08]But it turns out oceans burp, too.

[00:00:11]Deep on the seafloor, methane can leak in tiny bubbles at places [music] called cold seeps.

[00:00:17]These bubbles move up, and scientists are trying [music] to figure out how much of the methane actually makes it into the atmosphere.

[00:00:25]When methane [music] comes from really deep down, it often doesn't make it very far. Microbes can eat it, [music] or it dissolves before reaching the surface.

[00:00:35]But in shallow waters, it's a different story. There, bubbles have a much better chance of escaping into the air and adding more methane to an already warming planet as a potent greenhouse gas.

[00:00:47]And these seeps aren't just about [music] climate. They're home to some strange life.

[00:00:54]Like crabs that grow methane-eating bacteria on their bodies >> [music] >> and then snack on their own tiny bacterial garden.

[00:01:02]By studying [music] methane seeps, scientists are learning not only how the oceans can add to the global climate, but also how life survives in some of the darkest, strangest places on Earth.