Seepage from an arctic shallow marine gas hydrate reservoir is insensitive to momentary ocean warming
Nature Communications ()
1 Akvaplan-niva (prior employee)
Authors (7)
- Wei-Li Hong
- Marta E. Torres
- JoLynn Carroll
- Antoine Crémière
- Giuliana Panieri
- Haoyi Yao
- Pavel Serov
Description
Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15745
Abstract
Arctic gas hydrate reservoirs located in shallow water and proximal to the sediment-waterinterface are thought to be sensitive to bottom water warming that may trigger gas hydratedissociation and the release of methane. Here, we evaluate bottom water temperature as apotential driver for hydrate dissociation and methane release from a recently discovered,gas-hydrate-bearing system south of Spitsbergen (Storfjordrenna,B380 m water depth).Modelling of the non-steady-state porewater profiles and observations of distinct layers ofmethane-derivedauthigeniccarbonatenodulesinthesedimentsindicatecenturialtomillennial methane emissions in the region. Results of temperature modelling suggest limitedimpact of short-term warming on gas hydrates deeper than a few metres in the sediments.We conclude that the ongoing and past methane emission episodes at the investigated sitesare likely due to the episodic ventilation of deep reservoirs rather than warming-induced gashydrate dissociation in this shallow water seep site.