Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event
International audience Methane (CH$_4$) is a powerful greenhouse gas and plays a key part in global atmospheric chemistry. Natural geological emissions (fossil methane vented naturally from marine and terrestrial seeps and mud volcanoes) are thought to contribute around 52 teragrams of methane per y...
Published in: | Nature |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2017
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Online Access: | https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23316 |
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HAL-CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) |
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English |
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[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology |
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[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology Petrenko, Vasilii Smith, Andrew, M. Schaefer, Hinrich Riedel, Katja Brook, Edward, J Baggenstos, Daniel Harth, Christina Hua, Quan Buizert, Christo Schilt, Adrian Faïn, Xavier Mitchell, Logan Bauska, Thomas Orsi, Anais Weiss, Ray, F. Severinghaus, Jeffrey, P. Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology |
description |
International audience Methane (CH$_4$) is a powerful greenhouse gas and plays a key part in global atmospheric chemistry. Natural geological emissions (fossil methane vented naturally from marine and terrestrial seeps and mud volcanoes) are thought to contribute around 52 teragrams of methane per year to the global methane source, about 10 per cent of the total, but both bottom-up methods (measuring emissions)1 and top-down approaches (measuring atmospheric mole fractions and isotopes)2 for constraining these geological emissions have been associated with large uncertainties. Here we use ice core measurements to quantify the absolute amount of radiocarbon-containing methane ($^{14}$CH$_4$) in the past atmosphere and show that geological methane emissions were no higher than 15.4 teragrams per year (95 per cent confidence), averaged over the abrupt warming event that occurred between the Younger Dryas and Preboreal intervals, approximately 11,600 years ago. Assuming that past geological methane emissions were no lower than today 3,4, our results indicate that current estimates of today’s natural geological methane emissions (about 52 teragrams per year)1,2 are too high and, by extension, that current estimates of anthropogenic fossil methane emissions 2 are too low. Our results also improve on and confirm earlier findings5,6,7 that the rapid increase of about 50 per cent in mole fraction of atmospheric methane at the Younger Dryas–Preboreal event was driven by contemporaneous methane from sources such as wetlands; our findings constrain the contribution from old carbon reservoirs (marine methane hydrates8, permafrost9 and methane trapped under ice10) to 19 per cent or less (95 per cent confidence). To the extent that the characteristics of the most recent deglaciation and the Younger Dryas–Preboreal warming are comparable to those of the current anthropogenic warming, our measurements suggest that large future atmospheric releases of methane from old carbon sources are unlikely to occur. |
author2 |
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Rochester University of Rochester USA Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Australie (ANSTO) National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Wellington (NIWA) College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Corvallis (CEOAS) Oregon State University (OSU) Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego) University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) Universität Bern / University of Bern (UNIBE) Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ) Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Petrenko, Vasilii Smith, Andrew, M. Schaefer, Hinrich Riedel, Katja Brook, Edward, J Baggenstos, Daniel Harth, Christina Hua, Quan Buizert, Christo Schilt, Adrian Faïn, Xavier Mitchell, Logan Bauska, Thomas Orsi, Anais Weiss, Ray, F. Severinghaus, Jeffrey, P. |
author_facet |
Petrenko, Vasilii Smith, Andrew, M. Schaefer, Hinrich Riedel, Katja Brook, Edward, J Baggenstos, Daniel Harth, Christina Hua, Quan Buizert, Christo Schilt, Adrian Faïn, Xavier Mitchell, Logan Bauska, Thomas Orsi, Anais Weiss, Ray, F. Severinghaus, Jeffrey, P. |
author_sort |
Petrenko, Vasilii |
title |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
title_short |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
title_full |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
title_fullStr |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
title_full_unstemmed |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event |
title_sort |
minimal geological methane emissions during the younger dryas–preboreal abrupt warming event |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23316 |
genre |
ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 Nature, 2017, 548 (7668), pp.443 - 446. ⟨10.1038/nature23316⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature23316 cea-01901041 https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 doi:10.1038/nature23316 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23316 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
548 |
container_issue |
7668 |
container_start_page |
443 |
op_container_end_page |
446 |
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1801376721435361280 |
spelling |
ftceafr:oai:HAL:cea-01901041v1 2024-06-09T07:46:44+00:00 Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event Petrenko, Vasilii Smith, Andrew, M. Schaefer, Hinrich Riedel, Katja Brook, Edward, J Baggenstos, Daniel Harth, Christina Hua, Quan Buizert, Christo Schilt, Adrian Faïn, Xavier Mitchell, Logan Bauska, Thomas Orsi, Anais Weiss, Ray, F. Severinghaus, Jeffrey, P. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Rochester University of Rochester USA Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Australie (ANSTO) National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Wellington (NIWA) College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Corvallis (CEOAS) Oregon State University (OSU) Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego) University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) Universität Bern / University of Bern (UNIBE) Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ) Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) 2017-08-23 https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23316 en eng HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature23316 cea-01901041 https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 doi:10.1038/nature23316 ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://cea.hal.science/cea-01901041 Nature, 2017, 548 (7668), pp.443 - 446. ⟨10.1038/nature23316⟩ [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2017 ftceafr https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23316 2024-05-16T15:19:53Z International audience Methane (CH$_4$) is a powerful greenhouse gas and plays a key part in global atmospheric chemistry. Natural geological emissions (fossil methane vented naturally from marine and terrestrial seeps and mud volcanoes) are thought to contribute around 52 teragrams of methane per year to the global methane source, about 10 per cent of the total, but both bottom-up methods (measuring emissions)1 and top-down approaches (measuring atmospheric mole fractions and isotopes)2 for constraining these geological emissions have been associated with large uncertainties. Here we use ice core measurements to quantify the absolute amount of radiocarbon-containing methane ($^{14}$CH$_4$) in the past atmosphere and show that geological methane emissions were no higher than 15.4 teragrams per year (95 per cent confidence), averaged over the abrupt warming event that occurred between the Younger Dryas and Preboreal intervals, approximately 11,600 years ago. Assuming that past geological methane emissions were no lower than today 3,4, our results indicate that current estimates of today’s natural geological methane emissions (about 52 teragrams per year)1,2 are too high and, by extension, that current estimates of anthropogenic fossil methane emissions 2 are too low. Our results also improve on and confirm earlier findings5,6,7 that the rapid increase of about 50 per cent in mole fraction of atmospheric methane at the Younger Dryas–Preboreal event was driven by contemporaneous methane from sources such as wetlands; our findings constrain the contribution from old carbon reservoirs (marine methane hydrates8, permafrost9 and methane trapped under ice10) to 19 per cent or less (95 per cent confidence). To the extent that the characteristics of the most recent deglaciation and the Younger Dryas–Preboreal warming are comparable to those of the current anthropogenic warming, our measurements suggest that large future atmospheric releases of methane from old carbon sources are unlikely to occur. Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core HAL-CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) Nature 548 7668 443 446 |