Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden
Numerous articles have recently reported on gas seepage offshore Svalbard, because the gas emission from these Arctic sediments was thought to result from gas hydrate dissociation, possibly triggered by anthropogenic ocean warming. We report on findings of a much broader seepage area, extending from...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5322355 2023-05-15T15:06:26+02:00 Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden Mau, S. Römer, M. Torres, M. E. Bussmann, I. Pape, T. Damm, E. Geprägs, P. Wintersteller, P. Hsu, C.-W. Loher, M. Bohrmann, G. 2017-02-23 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322355/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28230189 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 en eng Nature Publishing Group http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322355/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28230189 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 Copyright © 2017, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Article Text 2017 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 2017-03-05T01:28:03Z Numerous articles have recently reported on gas seepage offshore Svalbard, because the gas emission from these Arctic sediments was thought to result from gas hydrate dissociation, possibly triggered by anthropogenic ocean warming. We report on findings of a much broader seepage area, extending from 74° to 79°, where more than a thousand gas discharge sites were imaged as acoustic flares. The gas discharge occurs in water depths at and shallower than the upper edge of the gas hydrate stability zone and generates a dissolved methane plume that is hundreds of kilometer in length. Data collected in the summer of 2015 revealed that 0.02–7.7% of the dissolved methane was aerobically oxidized by microbes and a minor fraction (0.07%) was transferred to the atmosphere during periods of low wind speeds. Most flares were detected in the vicinity of the Hornsund Fracture Zone, leading us to postulate that the gas ascends along this fracture zone. The methane discharges on bathymetric highs characterized by sonic hard grounds, whereas glaciomarine and Holocene sediments in the troughs apparently limit seepage. The large scale seepage reported here is not caused by anthropogenic warming. Text Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Hornsund Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Bjørnøya ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) Hornsund ENVELOPE(15.865,15.865,76.979,76.979) Svalbard Scientific Reports 7 1 |
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Article Mau, S. Römer, M. Torres, M. E. Bussmann, I. Pape, T. Damm, E. Geprägs, P. Wintersteller, P. Hsu, C.-W. Loher, M. Bohrmann, G. Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
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Article |
description |
Numerous articles have recently reported on gas seepage offshore Svalbard, because the gas emission from these Arctic sediments was thought to result from gas hydrate dissociation, possibly triggered by anthropogenic ocean warming. We report on findings of a much broader seepage area, extending from 74° to 79°, where more than a thousand gas discharge sites were imaged as acoustic flares. The gas discharge occurs in water depths at and shallower than the upper edge of the gas hydrate stability zone and generates a dissolved methane plume that is hundreds of kilometer in length. Data collected in the summer of 2015 revealed that 0.02–7.7% of the dissolved methane was aerobically oxidized by microbes and a minor fraction (0.07%) was transferred to the atmosphere during periods of low wind speeds. Most flares were detected in the vicinity of the Hornsund Fracture Zone, leading us to postulate that the gas ascends along this fracture zone. The methane discharges on bathymetric highs characterized by sonic hard grounds, whereas glaciomarine and Holocene sediments in the troughs apparently limit seepage. The large scale seepage reported here is not caused by anthropogenic warming. |
format |
Text |
author |
Mau, S. Römer, M. Torres, M. E. Bussmann, I. Pape, T. Damm, E. Geprägs, P. Wintersteller, P. Hsu, C.-W. Loher, M. Bohrmann, G. |
author_facet |
Mau, S. Römer, M. Torres, M. E. Bussmann, I. Pape, T. Damm, E. Geprägs, P. Wintersteller, P. Hsu, C.-W. Loher, M. Bohrmann, G. |
author_sort |
Mau, S. |
title |
Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
title_short |
Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
title_full |
Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
title_fullStr |
Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden |
title_sort |
widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off svalbard - from bjørnøya to kongsfjorden |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322355/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28230189 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) ENVELOPE(15.865,15.865,76.979,76.979) |
geographic |
Arctic Bjørnøya Hornsund Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bjørnøya Hornsund Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Hornsund Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Hornsund Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322355/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28230189 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2017, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42997 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
7 |
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1 |
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1766338039052763136 |