First observation of direct methane emission to the atmosphere from the subglacial domain of the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Jesper Riis Christiansen, Christian Juncher Jørgensen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2018
• Subjects: Subglacial Environments; Atmospheric Background Concentration; Flux Rates; Direct Emissions; Discharge Point; Medicine; R; Science; Q; Arctic; Greenland; greenlandic; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35054-7; https://doaj.org/article/4892bad9619b4cd188dd0f74ac18734b

Abstract During a 2016 field expedition to the West Greenland Ice Sheet, a striking observation of significantly elevated CH4 concentrations of up to 15 times the background atmospheric concentration were measured directly in the air expelled with meltwater at a subglacial discharge point from the Greenland Ice Sheet. The range of hourly subglacial CH4 flux rate through the discharge point was estimated to be 3.1 to 134 g CH4 hr−1. These measurements are the first observations of direct emissions of CH4 from the subglacial environment under the Greenlandic Ice Sheet to the atmosphere and indicate a novel emission pathway of CH4 that is currently a non-quantified component of the Arctic CH4 budget.