The response of methane hydrate beneath the seabed offshore Svalbard to ocean warming during the next three centuries
The response of methane hydrate beneath the seabed offshore Svalbard to ocean warming during the next three centuries
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and large-scale rapid release of methane from hydrate may have contributed to past abrupt climate change inferred from the geological record. The discovery in 2008 of over 250 plumes of methane gas escaping from the seabed of the West Svalbard continental margin at ~400 m water depth (mwd) suggests that hydrate is dissociating in the present-day Arctic. Here we model the dynamic response of hydrate-bearing sediments over a period of 2300 years and investigate ocean warming as a possible cause for present-day and likely future dissociation of hydrate, within 350–800 mwd, west of Svalbard. Future temperatures are given by two climate models, HadGEM2 and CCSM4, and scenarios, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 8.5 and 2.6. Our results suggest that over the next three centuries 5.3–29 Gg yr?1 of methane may be released to the Arctic Ocean on the West Svalbard margin.
gas-hydrates dissociation, methane release, ocean warming, modeling, svalbard, arctic
5159-5163
Marin-Moreno, Héctor
e466cafd-bd5c-47a1-8522-e6938e7086a4
Minshull, Timothy A.
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Westbrook, Graham K.
ccd95de7-a1a1-4fc9-be37-f1a487bb65ca
Sinha, Bablu
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Sarkar, Sudipta
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16 October 2013
Marin-Moreno, Héctor
e466cafd-bd5c-47a1-8522-e6938e7086a4
Minshull, Timothy A.
bf413fb5-849e-4389-acd7-0cb0d644e6b8
Westbrook, Graham K.
ccd95de7-a1a1-4fc9-be37-f1a487bb65ca
Sinha, Bablu
544b5a07-3d74-464b-9470-a68c69bd722e
Sarkar, Sudipta
8c590f43-0802-4301-b83c-efcb5ba334a3
Marin-Moreno, Héctor, Minshull, Timothy A., Westbrook, Graham K., Sinha, Bablu and Sarkar, Sudipta
(2013)
The response of methane hydrate beneath the seabed offshore Svalbard to ocean warming during the next three centuries.
Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (19), .
(doi:10.1002/grl.50985).
Abstract
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and large-scale rapid release of methane from hydrate may have contributed to past abrupt climate change inferred from the geological record. The discovery in 2008 of over 250 plumes of methane gas escaping from the seabed of the West Svalbard continental margin at ~400 m water depth (mwd) suggests that hydrate is dissociating in the present-day Arctic. Here we model the dynamic response of hydrate-bearing sediments over a period of 2300 years and investigate ocean warming as a possible cause for present-day and likely future dissociation of hydrate, within 350–800 mwd, west of Svalbard. Future temperatures are given by two climate models, HadGEM2 and CCSM4, and scenarios, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 8.5 and 2.6. Our results suggest that over the next three centuries 5.3–29 Gg yr?1 of methane may be released to the Arctic Ocean on the West Svalbard margin.
Text
The response of methane hydrate beneath the seabed offshore Svalbard to ocean warming during the next three centuries - Marín-Moreno - 2013 - Geophysical Research Letters - Wiley Online Library.htm
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e-pub ahead of print date: 3 October 2013
Published date: 16 October 2013
Keywords:
gas-hydrates dissociation, methane release, ocean warming, modeling, svalbard, arctic
Organisations:
Marine Systems Modelling, Geology & Geophysics, Marine Geoscience
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 360003
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/360003
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: f4edde62-e516-45b5-bb48-3902ff0f3832
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Date deposited: 20 Nov 2013 15:36
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:14
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Contributors
Author:
Héctor Marin-Moreno
Author:
Bablu Sinha
Author:
Sudipta Sarkar
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