Sounding the methane alarm

A team of scientists confirms that sea-bottom and surface waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf are “super-saturated” with Methane (CH4) gas and “out-gassing” this potent GHG to the Atmosphere.

Large quantities of carbon (C) and methane (CH4)– typically in the form of methyl hydrate (or methyl clathrate)– are trapped in ocean sediments the world over. Through natural erosion of sediments, shifting of the ocean floor covering, and/or from pressure cracking, bubbles of the gas often escape and rise up through the water column.

In the deeper seas and oceans, this natural gas venting to the atmosphere (“out-gassing”) is largely constrained due to the fact that, as the rises through the water column, much of it combines with oxygen and forms other, less potent molecules. Also, in colder seas, sub-sea permafrost acts as a “lid” to contain much of the buried carbon.

The ESAS is the largest shallow sea in the world. Despite this, the ESAS generates a methane flux ten times that of the deeper ocean.Something amiss. Yet anoter pointer to how little we know about the planet, and hence, how wrong our predictions could be!

Many climatologist are concerned that Arctic warming–which is greater than predicted by several degrees C so far this century–will accelerate the thawing of sub-sea permafrost and thus also the release of CH4. Methane, though shorter-lived in the atmosphere than CO2, is a far more potent GHG than CO2, in terms of its heat-trapping capability.