The Strange Beauty of Frozen Methane Bubbles (PHOTOS)

Originally from Japan, the Alaska-based photographer first discovered frozen methane bubbles while walking near a pond with his wife. He describes searching for the formations as a treasure hunt that makes him pay more attention to his surroundings. Kajita explained that the best time to view methane bubbles in Alaska is during October, when the ice is thick enough to hold his weight, and before snow has clouded the ice's transparency.

"Bubbles don't appear in all lakes, ponds and rivers," Kajita told weather.com. "They tend to form in specific places, like small ponds in tundra and nooks of small river branches. Small ponds in tundra, where it's very swampy in the summer, are the best places to find them."

As water typically freezes from the surface down, the slow process of ice formation can trap gasses from decomposing organic material. Kajita said that scientists are interested in Alaska's frozen methane bubbles and what they mean for climate change. Methane gas constitutes 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Methane and it's heat-trapping ability has a profoundly negative effect on the environment. University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Katey Walter Anthony, who studies carbon cycling, estimates that as Alaska's permafrost thaws, more than 10 times the amount of methane that already exists in the atmosphere will be emitted.

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