Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf

Sparrow, Katy J.; Kessler, John D.; Southon, John R.; Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix; Schreiner, Kathryn M.; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Miller, John B.; Lehman, Scott J.; Xu, Xiaomei

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao4842

Title: Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf

Journal Article · Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao4842· OSTI ID:1499955

^[1];

^[2]; Southon, John R. ^[3]; Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix ^[2];

^[4];

^[5]; Miller, John B. ^[6]; Lehman, Scott J. ^[7]; Xu, Xiaomei ^[3]

Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry. Bolin Centre for Climate Research
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States). Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Lab. Dept. of Earth System Science
Univ. of Minnesota, Duluth, MN (United States). Large Lakes Observatory. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Global Monitoring Division. Earth System Research Lab.
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Inst. of Arctic and Alpine Research

In response to warming climate, methane can be released to Arctic Ocean sediment and waters from thawing subsea permafrost and decomposing methane hydrates. However, it is unknown whether methane derived from this sediment storehouse of frozen ancient carbon reaches the atmosphere. We quantified the fraction of methane derived from ancient sources in shelf waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea, a region that has both permafrost and methane hydrates and is experiencing significant warming. Although the radiocarbon-methane analyses indicate that ancient carbon is being mobilized and emitted as methane into shelf bottom waters, surprisingly, we find that methane in surface waters is principally derived from modern-aged carbon. We report that at and beyond approximately the 30-m isobath, ancient sources that dominate in deep waters contribute, at most, 10 ± 3% of the surface water methane. These results suggest that even if there is a heightened liberation of ancient carbon–sourced methane as climate change proceeds, oceanic oxidation and dispersion processes can strongly limit its emission to the atmosphere.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0028980; PLR-1417149

OSTI ID:: 1499955

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 1; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 34 works

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