The findings are a complete reversal of what scientists previously believed — that methane seeps in the Arctic Ocean were contributing to global warming.
“If what we observed near Svalbard occurs more broadly at similar locations around the world, it could mean that methane seeps have a net cooling effect on climate, not a warming effect as we previously thought,” John Pohlman, a U.S. Geological Survey biochemist and lead author of the study, said in a statement Monday.If the results hold, Pohlman’s study could have big implications for how scientists calculate the global carbon “budget” and for future projections of global warming.
“This is … totally unexpected,” Brett Thornton, a Swedish geochemist who was not involved in the study, told Science Magazine.A group of U.S., German and Norwegian scientists measured methane and carbon dioxide concentrations off Svalbard’s coast. They found 2,000 times more carbon dioxide was taken out of the atmosphere than methane escaping from underwater vents.
Methane escaping margin seeps at depths of 260 to 295 feet appeared to stimulate marine phytoplankton, which may have increased their intake of carbon dioxide. The study “suggests physical mechanisms that transport methane to the surface may also transport nutrient-enriched water that supports enhanced primary production and CO2 drawdown.”
Photosynthetic algae (marine
phytoplankton) appeared to be more active in the near-surface waters
overlying the seafloor methane seeps, a phenomenon that would explain
why so much carbon dioxide was being absorbed. Previous research has
shown that when cold, nutrient-rich waters come up from the depths,
algae near the surface can use the nutrients to enhance their
photosynthetic processes, resulting in more carbon dioxide being
absorbed from the atmosphere. However, this study is the first to make
this observation where methane-rich waters rise to the surface.
Jurgen Mienert, the director of the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate,
Environment and Climate (CAGE) at the University of Tromso, Norway,
said,“At CAGE, we are fortunate to have access to expertise, equipment, and a ship platform that allow us to launch sustained research focused on the Arctic Ocean. Collaborating with the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and GEOMAR on the important issue of sea-air flux of greenhouse gases above seafloor methane seeps has been rewarding for all of the researchers involved.”The research was conducted during a research expedition sponsored by CAGE, and supplementary data was collected by researchers from CAGE and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany. USGS involvement in the Svalbard margin expeditions was partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Ocean
waters overlying shallow-water (260-295 feet; 80-90 meters) methane
seeps (white dots) offshore the western margin of the Svalbard Islands
absorb substantially more atmospheric carbon dioxide than the methane
that they emit to the atmosphere. Colors indicate the strength of the
negative greenhouse warming potential associated with carbon dioxide
influx to these surface waters relative to the positive greenhouse
warming potential associated with the methane emissions. Gray shiptracks
have background values for the relative greenhouse warming potential.
“These findings challenge the widely held perception that areas characterized by shallow-water methane seeps and/or strongly elevated sea−air methane flux always increase the global atmospheric greenhouse gas burden,” reads the study’s executive summary.Pohlman cautioned the “cooling effect” of the seeps may be limited to certain times of the year, but he and his team were astounded to find such low amounts of methane above the seeps.
“These areas of methane seepage may be net greenhouse gas sinks,” reads a summary of the work.Methane is a more potent gas than carbon dioxide, and scientists have become increasingly worried about “methane bomb” from thawing permafrost and warming oceans. Methane hydrates from the ocean floor “a key cause of the global warming that led to one of the largest extinctions in the earth’s history,” Ryo Matsumoto, a University of Tokyo professor, said in 2008.
Scientists worry a huge release of methane from the sea floor could cause massive amounts of warming. One 2016 study warned “the release of methane from hydrate may be apocalyptic.”
But Pohlman’s research suggests there’s a lot more to learn about methane seeps and their role in global greenhouse gas inventories.
Pohlman’s study was the first to observe this in methane-rich waters, but the implications for climate science could be big if results can be replicated at other methane seeps.
“We are looking forward to testing the hypothesis that shallow-water methane seeps are net greenhouse gas sinks in other locations,” Pohlman said.
http://dailywesterner.com/news/2017-05-09/global-warming-dismissed-scientists-found-a-totally-unexpected-source-of-climate-cooling/
