Leaking methane reservoirs offshore Svalbard

Minshull, T. A.; Westbrook, G. K.; Weitemeyer, K. A.; Sinha, M. C.; Goswami, B. K.; Marsset, B.. 2012 Leaking methane reservoirs offshore Svalbard. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 93 (42). 413-414. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012EO420001

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Abstract/Summary

Methane hydrate—a solid substance in which methane is trapped within ice-like crystals—is stable at low temperatures and high pressures and may be destabilized by ocean warming on both geological and human time scales. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and methane released from hydrate provides a potential positive feedback mechanism in global climate change [e.g., Archer and Buffett, 2005]—in theory, the more methane is released by the hydrates, the warmer the climate gets, causing the ocean to warm and release more methane. However, methane escaping from the seabed is oxidized and dissolved in the ocean, and insufficient methane may reach the atmosphere to affect the climate significantly. Its importance for climate change therefore depends on whether the flux from the seabed is great enough to overcome solution in the ocean and perturb atmospheric concentrations over sufficiently long time scales.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2012EO420001
ISSN:	0096-3941
Additional Keywords:	methane hydrate; Svalbard; sea floor; seismic; electromagnetic; arctic
Date made live:	03 May 2013 08:57 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501761

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