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Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: Arctic Methane - This Does Not Sound Good... [View all]OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)26. Understanding methane’s seabed escape
noc.ac.uk/news/understanding-methanes-seabed-escape
[font face="times, serif"][font size="5"]Understanding methanes seabed escape [/font]
September 05, 2011
[font size="4"]A shipboard expedition off Norway, to determine how methane escapes from beneath the Arctic seabed, has discovered widespread pockets of the gas and numerous channels that allow it to reach the seafloor.[/font]
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and the research, carried out over the past week aboard the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross, will improve understanding of its origins in this area, its routes to the sea floor and how the amount of gas escaping might increase as the ocean warms. This could have important implications for global climate change and ocean acidification.
At the high pressures and low temperatures which are found at the bottom of the deep ocean, methane gas and water combine to form a solid, crystalline substance - methane hydrate. It is very widespread in the parts of the deep ocean nearest to the continents. If the ocean warms, the hydrate can become unstable and methane gas is unlocked and can make its way into the ocean, forming plumes of bubbles.
A research cruise to the same area in 2008, also aboard RRS James Clark Ross, discovered numerous such plumes, as well as evidence for the presence of gas and the movement of fluids beneath the seabed. What was unclear though was how the gas was escaping into the ocean.
Ifremers SYSIF sonar system produced detailed images reaching 100 to 200 metres beneath the seafloor, which show how gas is in some places trapped and in some places is travelling upwards through narrow fractures and pipes to the seafloor. A seismic system towed across the sea surface provided images of deeper gas pockets beyond the reach of the towed sonar.
[/font]
September 05, 2011
[font size="4"]A shipboard expedition off Norway, to determine how methane escapes from beneath the Arctic seabed, has discovered widespread pockets of the gas and numerous channels that allow it to reach the seafloor.[/font]
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and the research, carried out over the past week aboard the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross, will improve understanding of its origins in this area, its routes to the sea floor and how the amount of gas escaping might increase as the ocean warms. This could have important implications for global climate change and ocean acidification.
At the high pressures and low temperatures which are found at the bottom of the deep ocean, methane gas and water combine to form a solid, crystalline substance - methane hydrate. It is very widespread in the parts of the deep ocean nearest to the continents. If the ocean warms, the hydrate can become unstable and methane gas is unlocked and can make its way into the ocean, forming plumes of bubbles.
A research cruise to the same area in 2008, also aboard RRS James Clark Ross, discovered numerous such plumes, as well as evidence for the presence of gas and the movement of fluids beneath the seabed. What was unclear though was how the gas was escaping into the ocean.
Ifremers SYSIF sonar system produced detailed images reaching 100 to 200 metres beneath the seafloor, which show how gas is in some places trapped and in some places is travelling upwards through narrow fractures and pipes to the seafloor. A seismic system towed across the sea surface provided images of deeper gas pockets beyond the reach of the towed sonar.
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I was rendered immediately breathless, and was made to sit and meditate deeply
Ghost Dog
Dec 2011
#43
I didn't do well in chemistry class (bad teacher, I claim) but does this make sense
Ghost Dog
Dec 2011
#47
I'm not sure that's technically feasible, we're talking thousands of square kilometers.
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#55
Luckily, I have no kids! My ancestral carbon footprint shrinks to zero by 2040.
aletier_v
Dec 2011
#53
Right, a little over a long time is nothing, a lot over a little time is an issue.
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#59