From: Geekosystem.com

Researchers have been seeing methane produced from the world’s oceans for years, but like methane produced in a crowded elevator, the source was a minor mystery that annoyed many in the field. But researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign may have finally cracked the secret behind just who dealt the methane being released by the Earth’s oceans, and it appears the answer was looking right at them the whole time — probably being conspicously quiet or pretending to check its email or something. The source seems to be one of the most common microbes in the ocean, Nitrosopumilus maritimus.

Science has understood that methane is being emitted by the world’s oceans for years, but have been confused by why that’s the case. Methane can be produced by microbial organisms, but they usually do so in oxygen-free environments — not oxygen-rich ones like the ocean.

Nitrosopumilus maritimus is among the most abundant microbes on the planet, so it’s a surprise that it could be keeping a secret as big as being responsible for as much as 4% of the Earth’s total methane production. Even so, that looks to be exactly the case.

Nitrosopumilus maritimus is an extremely common archaeon living in seawater.