Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change
Paleooceanographic evidence has been used to postulate that methane from oceanic hydrates may have had a significant role in regulating global climate, implicating global oceanic deposits of methane gas hydrate as the main culprit in instances of rapid climate change that have occurred in the past....
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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ftunivnotexas:info:ark/67531/metadc893913 2023-05-15T15:00:56+02:00 Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change Reagan, Matthew Reagan, Matthew T. Moridis, George J. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Earth Sciences Division. 2008-04-15 Text https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc893913/ English eng Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory rep-no: LBNL-712E grantno: DE-AC02-05CH11231 osti: 935357 https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc893913/ ark: ark:/67531/metadc893913 6th International Conference on Gas Hydrates, Vancouver, BC, July 6-10, 2008 Saturation Dissociation Sediments 54 Oxidation Hydrates Natural Gas Hydrate Deposits Instability Methane Source Terms Gas Hydrates Climates Carbon Simulation Distribution Arctic Regions Climate Models Article 2008 ftunivnotexas 2017-09-30T22:08:02Z Paleooceanographic evidence has been used to postulate that methane from oceanic hydrates may have had a significant role in regulating global climate, implicating global oceanic deposits of methane gas hydrate as the main culprit in instances of rapid climate change that have occurred in the past. However, the behavior of contemporary oceanic methane hydrate deposits subjected to rapid temperature changes, like those predicted under future climate change scenarios, is poorly understood. To determine the fate of the carbon stored in these hydrates, we performed simulations of oceanic gas hydrate accumulations subjected to temperature changes at the seafloor and assessed the potential for methane release into the ocean. Our modeling analysis considered the properties of benthic sediments, the saturation and distribution of the hydrates, the ocean depth, the initial seafloor temperature, and for the first time, estimated the effect of benthic biogeochemical activity. The results show that shallow deposits--such as those found in arctic regions or in the Gulf of Mexico--can undergo rapid dissociation and produce significant methane fluxes of 2 to 13 mol/yr/m{sup 2} over a period of decades, and release up to 1,100 mol of methane per m{sup 2} of seafloor in a century. These fluxes may exceed the ability of the seafloor environment (via anaerobic oxidation of methane) to consume the released methane or sequester the carbon. These results will provide a source term to regional or global climate models in order to assess the coupling of gas hydrate deposits to changes in the global climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Methane hydrate University of North Texas: UNT Digital Library Arctic |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of North Texas: UNT Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnotexas |
language |
English |
topic |
Saturation Dissociation Sediments 54 Oxidation Hydrates Natural Gas Hydrate Deposits Instability Methane Source Terms Gas Hydrates Climates Carbon Simulation Distribution Arctic Regions Climate Models |
spellingShingle |
Saturation Dissociation Sediments 54 Oxidation Hydrates Natural Gas Hydrate Deposits Instability Methane Source Terms Gas Hydrates Climates Carbon Simulation Distribution Arctic Regions Climate Models Reagan, Matthew Reagan, Matthew T. Moridis, George J. Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
topic_facet |
Saturation Dissociation Sediments 54 Oxidation Hydrates Natural Gas Hydrate Deposits Instability Methane Source Terms Gas Hydrates Climates Carbon Simulation Distribution Arctic Regions Climate Models |
description |
Paleooceanographic evidence has been used to postulate that methane from oceanic hydrates may have had a significant role in regulating global climate, implicating global oceanic deposits of methane gas hydrate as the main culprit in instances of rapid climate change that have occurred in the past. However, the behavior of contemporary oceanic methane hydrate deposits subjected to rapid temperature changes, like those predicted under future climate change scenarios, is poorly understood. To determine the fate of the carbon stored in these hydrates, we performed simulations of oceanic gas hydrate accumulations subjected to temperature changes at the seafloor and assessed the potential for methane release into the ocean. Our modeling analysis considered the properties of benthic sediments, the saturation and distribution of the hydrates, the ocean depth, the initial seafloor temperature, and for the first time, estimated the effect of benthic biogeochemical activity. The results show that shallow deposits--such as those found in arctic regions or in the Gulf of Mexico--can undergo rapid dissociation and produce significant methane fluxes of 2 to 13 mol/yr/m{sup 2} over a period of decades, and release up to 1,100 mol of methane per m{sup 2} of seafloor in a century. These fluxes may exceed the ability of the seafloor environment (via anaerobic oxidation of methane) to consume the released methane or sequester the carbon. These results will provide a source term to regional or global climate models in order to assess the coupling of gas hydrate deposits to changes in the global climate. |
author2 |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Earth Sciences Division. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reagan, Matthew Reagan, Matthew T. Moridis, George J. |
author_facet |
Reagan, Matthew Reagan, Matthew T. Moridis, George J. |
author_sort |
Reagan, Matthew |
title |
Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
title_short |
Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
title_full |
Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
title_fullStr |
Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling of Oceanic Gas Hydrate Instability and Methane Release in Response to Climate Change |
title_sort |
modeling of oceanic gas hydrate instability and methane release in response to climate change |
publisher |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc893913/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Methane hydrate |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Methane hydrate |
op_source |
6th International Conference on Gas Hydrates, Vancouver, BC, July 6-10, 2008 |
op_relation |
rep-no: LBNL-712E grantno: DE-AC02-05CH11231 osti: 935357 https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc893913/ ark: ark:/67531/metadc893913 |
_version_ |
1766332980818608128 |