Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions
Large amounts of methane are trapped within gas hydrate in subseabed sediments in the Arctic Ocean, and bottom-water warming may induce the release of methane from the seafloor. Yet the effect of seasonal temperature variations on methane seepage activity remains unknown as surveys in Arctic seas ar...
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Online Access: | https://edoc.unibas.ch/80349/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 |
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ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:80349 2023-05-15T14:27:01+02:00 Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions Ferré, Bénédicte Jansson, Pär G. Moser, Manuel Serov, Pavel Portnov, Alexey Graves, Carolyn A. Panieri, Giuliana Gründger, Friederike Berndt, Christian Lehmann, Moritz F. Niemann, Helge 2020 https://edoc.unibas.ch/80349/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 unknown Nature Publishing Group Ferré, Bénédicte and Jansson, Pär G. and Moser, Manuel and Serov, Pavel and Portnov, Alexey and Graves, Carolyn A. and Panieri, Giuliana and Gründger, Friederike and Berndt, Christian and Lehmann, Moritz F. and Niemann, Helge. (2020) Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions. Nature Geoscience, 13 (2). pp. 144-148. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 info:isi/000508172900003 urn:ISSN:1752-0908 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftunivbasel https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 2023-03-05T07:26:59Z Large amounts of methane are trapped within gas hydrate in subseabed sediments in the Arctic Ocean, and bottom-water warming may induce the release of methane from the seafloor. Yet the effect of seasonal temperature variations on methane seepage activity remains unknown as surveys in Arctic seas are conducted mainly in summer. Here we compare the activity of cold seeps along the gas hydrate stability limit offshore Svalbard during cold (May 2016) and warm (August 2012) seasons. Hydro-acoustic surveys revealed a substantially decreased seepage activity during cold bottom-water conditions, corresponding to a 43% reduction of total cold seeps and methane release rates compared with warmer conditions. We demonstrate that cold seeps apparently hibernate during cold seasons, when more methane gas becomes trapped in the subseabed sediments. Such a greenhouse gas capacitor increases the potential for methane release during summer months. Seasonal bottom-water temperature variations are common on the Arctic continental shelves. We infer that methane-seep hibernation is a widespread phenomenon that is underappreciated in global methane budgets, leading to overestimates in current calculations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard University of Basel: edoc Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard Nature Geoscience 13 2 144 148 |
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University of Basel: edoc |
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ftunivbasel |
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description |
Large amounts of methane are trapped within gas hydrate in subseabed sediments in the Arctic Ocean, and bottom-water warming may induce the release of methane from the seafloor. Yet the effect of seasonal temperature variations on methane seepage activity remains unknown as surveys in Arctic seas are conducted mainly in summer. Here we compare the activity of cold seeps along the gas hydrate stability limit offshore Svalbard during cold (May 2016) and warm (August 2012) seasons. Hydro-acoustic surveys revealed a substantially decreased seepage activity during cold bottom-water conditions, corresponding to a 43% reduction of total cold seeps and methane release rates compared with warmer conditions. We demonstrate that cold seeps apparently hibernate during cold seasons, when more methane gas becomes trapped in the subseabed sediments. Such a greenhouse gas capacitor increases the potential for methane release during summer months. Seasonal bottom-water temperature variations are common on the Arctic continental shelves. We infer that methane-seep hibernation is a widespread phenomenon that is underappreciated in global methane budgets, leading to overestimates in current calculations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ferré, Bénédicte Jansson, Pär G. Moser, Manuel Serov, Pavel Portnov, Alexey Graves, Carolyn A. Panieri, Giuliana Gründger, Friederike Berndt, Christian Lehmann, Moritz F. Niemann, Helge |
spellingShingle |
Ferré, Bénédicte Jansson, Pär G. Moser, Manuel Serov, Pavel Portnov, Alexey Graves, Carolyn A. Panieri, Giuliana Gründger, Friederike Berndt, Christian Lehmann, Moritz F. Niemann, Helge Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
author_facet |
Ferré, Bénédicte Jansson, Pär G. Moser, Manuel Serov, Pavel Portnov, Alexey Graves, Carolyn A. Panieri, Giuliana Gründger, Friederike Berndt, Christian Lehmann, Moritz F. Niemann, Helge |
author_sort |
Ferré, Bénédicte |
title |
Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
title_short |
Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
title_full |
Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
title_fullStr |
Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
title_sort |
reduced methane seepage from arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://edoc.unibas.ch/80349/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
op_relation |
Ferré, Bénédicte and Jansson, Pär G. and Moser, Manuel and Serov, Pavel and Portnov, Alexey and Graves, Carolyn A. and Panieri, Giuliana and Gründger, Friederike and Berndt, Christian and Lehmann, Moritz F. and Niemann, Helge. (2020) Reduced methane seepage from Arctic sediments during cold bottom-water conditions. Nature Geoscience, 13 (2). pp. 144-148. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 info:isi/000508172900003 urn:ISSN:1752-0908 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0515-3 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
144 |
op_container_end_page |
148 |
_version_ |
1766300575892242432 |