Modeling the climate response to a massive methane release from gas hydrates
[1] The climate response to a massive release of methane from gas hydrates is simulated in two 2500-year-long numerical experiments performed with a three-dimensional, global coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean model of intermediate complexity. Two different equilibrium states were used as reference cl...
| Published in: | Paleoceanography |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Amer Geophysical Union
2004
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/40203 https://doi.org/10.1029/2003PA000968 |
| Summary: | [1] The climate response to a massive release of methane from gas hydrates is simulated in two 2500-year-long numerical experiments performed with a three-dimensional, global coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean model of intermediate complexity. Two different equilibrium states were used as reference climates; the first state with preindustrial forcing conditions and the second state with a four times higher atmospheric CO2 concentration. These climates were perturbed by prescribing a methane emission scenario equivalent to that computed for the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM; similar to55.5 Ma), involving a sudden release of 1500 Gt of carbon into the atmosphere in 1000 years. In both cases, this produced rapid atmospheric warming (up to 10degreesC at high latitudes) and a reorganization of the global overturning ocean circulation. In the ocean, maximum warming (2-4degreesC) occurred at intermediate depths where methane hydrates are stored in the upper slope sediments, suggesting that further hydrate instability could result from the prescribed scenario. |
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