Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review
Large quantities of methane are stored in hydrates and permafrost within shallow marine sediments in the Arctic Ocean. These reservoirs are highly sensitive to climate warming, but the fate of methane released from sediments is uncertain. Here, we review the principal physical and biogeochemical pro...
Published in: | Limnology and Oceanography |
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ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography)
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Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/1/James_etal_LnO_2016_Methane-in-the-Arctic.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307 |
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:32895 2023-05-15T14:27:27+02:00 Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review James, Rachael H. Bousquet, Philippe Bussmann, Ingeborg Haeckel, Matthias Kipfer, Rolf Leifer, Ira Niemann, Helge Ostrovsky, Ilia Piskozub, Jacek Rehder, Gregor Treude, Tina Vielstädte, Lisa Greinert, Jens 2016-11 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/1/James_etal_LnO_2016_Methane-in-the-Arctic.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307 en eng ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography) https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/1/James_etal_LnO_2016_Methane-in-the-Arctic.pdf James, R. H., Bousquet, P., Bussmann, I., Haeckel, M. , Kipfer, R., Leifer, I., Niemann, H., Ostrovsky, I., Piskozub, J., Rehder, G., Treude, T. , Vielstädte, L. and Greinert, J. (2016) Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review. Open Access Limnology and Oceanography, 61 (S1). pp. 301-309. DOI 10.1002/lno.10307 <https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307>. doi:10.1002/lno.10307 cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2016 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307 2023-04-07T15:25:37Z Large quantities of methane are stored in hydrates and permafrost within shallow marine sediments in the Arctic Ocean. These reservoirs are highly sensitive to climate warming, but the fate of methane released from sediments is uncertain. Here, we review the principal physical and biogeochemical processes that regulate methane fluxes across the seabed, the fate of this methane in the water column, and potential for its release to the atmosphere. We find that, at present, fluxes of dissolved methane are significantly moderated by anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane. If methane fluxes increase then a greater proportion of methane will be transported by advection or in the gas phase, which reduces the efficiency of the methanotrophic sink. Higher freshwater discharge to Arctic shelf seas may increase stratification and inhibit transfer of methane gas to surface waters, although there is some evidence that increased stratification may lead to warming of sub-pycnocline waters, increasing the potential for hydrate dissociation. Loss of sea-ice is likely to increase wind speeds and seaair exchange of methane will consequently increase. Studies of the distribution and cycling of methane beneath and within sea ice are limited, but it seems likely that the sea-air methane flux is higher during melting in seasonally ice-covered regions. Our review reveals that increased observations around especially the anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane, bubble transport, and the effects of ice cover, are required to fully understand the linkages and feedback pathways between climate warming and release of methane from marine sediments. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ice permafrost Sea ice OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Arctic Arctic Ocean Limnology and Oceanography 61 S1 S283 S299 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
Large quantities of methane are stored in hydrates and permafrost within shallow marine sediments in the Arctic Ocean. These reservoirs are highly sensitive to climate warming, but the fate of methane released from sediments is uncertain. Here, we review the principal physical and biogeochemical processes that regulate methane fluxes across the seabed, the fate of this methane in the water column, and potential for its release to the atmosphere. We find that, at present, fluxes of dissolved methane are significantly moderated by anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane. If methane fluxes increase then a greater proportion of methane will be transported by advection or in the gas phase, which reduces the efficiency of the methanotrophic sink. Higher freshwater discharge to Arctic shelf seas may increase stratification and inhibit transfer of methane gas to surface waters, although there is some evidence that increased stratification may lead to warming of sub-pycnocline waters, increasing the potential for hydrate dissociation. Loss of sea-ice is likely to increase wind speeds and seaair exchange of methane will consequently increase. Studies of the distribution and cycling of methane beneath and within sea ice are limited, but it seems likely that the sea-air methane flux is higher during melting in seasonally ice-covered regions. Our review reveals that increased observations around especially the anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane, bubble transport, and the effects of ice cover, are required to fully understand the linkages and feedback pathways between climate warming and release of methane from marine sediments. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
James, Rachael H. Bousquet, Philippe Bussmann, Ingeborg Haeckel, Matthias Kipfer, Rolf Leifer, Ira Niemann, Helge Ostrovsky, Ilia Piskozub, Jacek Rehder, Gregor Treude, Tina Vielstädte, Lisa Greinert, Jens |
spellingShingle |
James, Rachael H. Bousquet, Philippe Bussmann, Ingeborg Haeckel, Matthias Kipfer, Rolf Leifer, Ira Niemann, Helge Ostrovsky, Ilia Piskozub, Jacek Rehder, Gregor Treude, Tina Vielstädte, Lisa Greinert, Jens Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
author_facet |
James, Rachael H. Bousquet, Philippe Bussmann, Ingeborg Haeckel, Matthias Kipfer, Rolf Leifer, Ira Niemann, Helge Ostrovsky, Ilia Piskozub, Jacek Rehder, Gregor Treude, Tina Vielstädte, Lisa Greinert, Jens |
author_sort |
James, Rachael H. |
title |
Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
title_short |
Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
title_full |
Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
title_fullStr |
Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review |
title_sort |
effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the arctic ocean: a review |
publisher |
ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/1/James_etal_LnO_2016_Methane-in-the-Arctic.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ice permafrost Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ice permafrost Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32895/1/James_etal_LnO_2016_Methane-in-the-Arctic.pdf James, R. H., Bousquet, P., Bussmann, I., Haeckel, M. , Kipfer, R., Leifer, I., Niemann, H., Ostrovsky, I., Piskozub, J., Rehder, G., Treude, T. , Vielstädte, L. and Greinert, J. (2016) Effects of climate change on methane emissions from seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean: A review. Open Access Limnology and Oceanography, 61 (S1). pp. 301-309. DOI 10.1002/lno.10307 <https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307>. doi:10.1002/lno.10307 |
op_rights |
cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10307 |
container_title |
Limnology and Oceanography |
container_volume |
61 |
container_issue |
S1 |
container_start_page |
S283 |
op_container_end_page |
S299 |
_version_ |
1766301189163450368 |