Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean)
Dissolved methane (CH 4 ) was measured at 9 stations along a transect at 75° S in the Ross Sea during austral summer in January 2020. CH 4 undersaturation (mean: 82 ± 20 %) was found in the water column, with a mean air-sea CH 4 flux density of −0.58 ± 0.48 μmol m −2 day −1 , which suggests that the...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:bgd100068 2023-05-15T18:07:30+02:00 Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) Ye, Wangwang Bange, Hermann W. Arévalo-Martínez, Damian L. He, Hailun Li, Yuhong Wen, Jianwen Zhang, Jiexia Liu, Jian Wu, Man Zhan, Liyang 2022-01-03 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2021-334/ eng eng doi:10.5194/bg-2021-334 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2021-334/ eISSN: 1726-4189 Text 2022 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334 2022-01-10T17:22:18Z Dissolved methane (CH 4 ) was measured at 9 stations along a transect at 75° S in the Ross Sea during austral summer in January 2020. CH 4 undersaturation (mean: 82 ± 20 %) was found in the water column, with a mean air-sea CH 4 flux density of −0.58 ± 0.48 μmol m −2 day −1 , which suggests that the Ross Sea was a net sink for atmospheric CH 4 during the austral summer. Simple box-model calculations revealed that the CH 4 depletion should occur in the surface mixed layer because of CH 4 oxidation and advection of CH 4 -poor waters. We propose that freshwater injection caused by sea-ice melting in summer dilutes CH 4 concentrations within the surface layer and thus increases its potential for atmospheric CH 4 uptake in the Ross Sea. Thus, we argue that both CH 4 consumption and sea-ice melting are important drivers of CH 4 undersaturation, which implies that the high-latitude area of the Southern Ocean is a sink for atmospheric CH 4 . We estimated that the Southern Ocean (> 65° S) takes up about 0.02 % of the global CH 4 emissions and thus represents a minor sink for atmospheric CH 4 . Text Ross Sea Sea ice Southern Ocean Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Austral Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
description |
Dissolved methane (CH 4 ) was measured at 9 stations along a transect at 75° S in the Ross Sea during austral summer in January 2020. CH 4 undersaturation (mean: 82 ± 20 %) was found in the water column, with a mean air-sea CH 4 flux density of −0.58 ± 0.48 μmol m −2 day −1 , which suggests that the Ross Sea was a net sink for atmospheric CH 4 during the austral summer. Simple box-model calculations revealed that the CH 4 depletion should occur in the surface mixed layer because of CH 4 oxidation and advection of CH 4 -poor waters. We propose that freshwater injection caused by sea-ice melting in summer dilutes CH 4 concentrations within the surface layer and thus increases its potential for atmospheric CH 4 uptake in the Ross Sea. Thus, we argue that both CH 4 consumption and sea-ice melting are important drivers of CH 4 undersaturation, which implies that the high-latitude area of the Southern Ocean is a sink for atmospheric CH 4 . We estimated that the Southern Ocean (> 65° S) takes up about 0.02 % of the global CH 4 emissions and thus represents a minor sink for atmospheric CH 4 . |
format |
Text |
author |
Ye, Wangwang Bange, Hermann W. Arévalo-Martínez, Damian L. He, Hailun Li, Yuhong Wen, Jianwen Zhang, Jiexia Liu, Jian Wu, Man Zhan, Liyang |
spellingShingle |
Ye, Wangwang Bange, Hermann W. Arévalo-Martínez, Damian L. He, Hailun Li, Yuhong Wen, Jianwen Zhang, Jiexia Liu, Jian Wu, Man Zhan, Liyang Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
author_facet |
Ye, Wangwang Bange, Hermann W. Arévalo-Martínez, Damian L. He, Hailun Li, Yuhong Wen, Jianwen Zhang, Jiexia Liu, Jian Wu, Man Zhan, Liyang |
author_sort |
Ye, Wangwang |
title |
Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
title_short |
Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
title_full |
Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
title_fullStr |
Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean) |
title_sort |
significant methane undersaturation during austral summer in the ross sea (southern ocean) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2021-334/ |
geographic |
Austral Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Austral Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre |
Ross Sea Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Ross Sea Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
eISSN: 1726-4189 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/bg-2021-334 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2021-334/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334 |
_version_ |
1766179621652398080 |