Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard?
Gas hydrates are ice-like deposits containing a mixture of water and gas; the most common gas is methane. Gas hydrates are stable under high pressures and relatively low temperatures and are found underneath the oceans and in permafrost regions. Estimates range from 500 to 10 000 giga tonnes of carb...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 2024-10-13T14:02:16+00:00 Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? Maslin, Mark Owen, Matthew Betts, Richard Day, Simon Dunkley Jones, Tom Ridgwell, Andrew 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 368, issue 1919, page 2369-2393 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 journal-article 2010 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 2024-09-30T04:14:48Z Gas hydrates are ice-like deposits containing a mixture of water and gas; the most common gas is methane. Gas hydrates are stable under high pressures and relatively low temperatures and are found underneath the oceans and in permafrost regions. Estimates range from 500 to 10 000 giga tonnes of carbon (best current estimate 1600–2000 GtC) stored in ocean sediments and 400 GtC in Arctic permafrost. Gas hydrates may pose a serious geohazard in the near future owing to the adverse effects of global warming on the stability of gas hydrate deposits both in ocean sediments and in permafrost. It is still unknown whether future ocean warming could lead to significant methane release, as thermal penetration of marine sediments to the clathrate–gas interface could be slow enough to allow a new equilibrium to occur without any gas escaping. Even if methane gas does escape, it is still unclear how much of this could be oxidized in the overlying ocean. Models of the global inventory of hydrates and trapped methane bubbles suggest that a global 3 ° C warming could release between 35 and 940 GtC, which could add up to an additional 0.5 ° C to global warming. The destabilization of gas hydrate reserves in permafrost areas is more certain as climate models predict that high-latitude regions will be disproportionately affected by global warming with temperature increases of over 12 ° C predicted for much of North America and Northern Asia. Our current estimates of gas hydrate storage in the Arctic region are, however, extremely poor and non-existent for Antarctica. The shrinking of both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in response to regional warming may also lead to destabilization of gas hydrates. As ice sheets shrink, the weight removed allows the coastal region and adjacent continental slope to rise through isostacy. This removal of hydrostatic pressure could destabilize gas hydrates, leading to massive slope failure, and may increase the risk of tsunamis. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice permafrost The Royal Society Arctic Antarctic Greenland Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 368 1919 2369 2393 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Gas hydrates are ice-like deposits containing a mixture of water and gas; the most common gas is methane. Gas hydrates are stable under high pressures and relatively low temperatures and are found underneath the oceans and in permafrost regions. Estimates range from 500 to 10 000 giga tonnes of carbon (best current estimate 1600–2000 GtC) stored in ocean sediments and 400 GtC in Arctic permafrost. Gas hydrates may pose a serious geohazard in the near future owing to the adverse effects of global warming on the stability of gas hydrate deposits both in ocean sediments and in permafrost. It is still unknown whether future ocean warming could lead to significant methane release, as thermal penetration of marine sediments to the clathrate–gas interface could be slow enough to allow a new equilibrium to occur without any gas escaping. Even if methane gas does escape, it is still unclear how much of this could be oxidized in the overlying ocean. Models of the global inventory of hydrates and trapped methane bubbles suggest that a global 3 ° C warming could release between 35 and 940 GtC, which could add up to an additional 0.5 ° C to global warming. The destabilization of gas hydrate reserves in permafrost areas is more certain as climate models predict that high-latitude regions will be disproportionately affected by global warming with temperature increases of over 12 ° C predicted for much of North America and Northern Asia. Our current estimates of gas hydrate storage in the Arctic region are, however, extremely poor and non-existent for Antarctica. The shrinking of both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in response to regional warming may also lead to destabilization of gas hydrates. As ice sheets shrink, the weight removed allows the coastal region and adjacent continental slope to rise through isostacy. This removal of hydrostatic pressure could destabilize gas hydrates, leading to massive slope failure, and may increase the risk of tsunamis. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Maslin, Mark Owen, Matthew Betts, Richard Day, Simon Dunkley Jones, Tom Ridgwell, Andrew |
spellingShingle |
Maslin, Mark Owen, Matthew Betts, Richard Day, Simon Dunkley Jones, Tom Ridgwell, Andrew Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
author_facet |
Maslin, Mark Owen, Matthew Betts, Richard Day, Simon Dunkley Jones, Tom Ridgwell, Andrew |
author_sort |
Maslin, Mark |
title |
Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
title_short |
Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
title_full |
Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
title_fullStr |
Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
title_sort |
gas hydrates: past and future geohazard? |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 |
geographic |
Arctic Antarctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Antarctic Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice permafrost |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 368, issue 1919, page 2369-2393 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0065 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
container_volume |
368 |
container_issue |
1919 |
container_start_page |
2369 |
op_container_end_page |
2393 |
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1812816081610342400 |