Limited Acute Influence of Aerobic Methane Oxidation on Ocean Carbon Dioxide and pH in Hudson Canyon, Northern U.S. Atlantic Margin

Garcia‐Tigreros, Fenix; Kessler, John D.

doi:10.1029/2018jg004384

Limited Acute Influence of Aerobic Methane Oxidation on Ocean Carbon Dioxide and pH in Hudson Canyon, Northern U.S. Atlantic Margin

Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004384· OSTI ID:1539765

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Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)

The ocean continental shelves host the largest global reservoir of methane (CH₄). Despite the great extent of these CH₄ reservoirs, much of the CH₄ released into deep ocean environments appear to dissolve in seawater prior to atmospheric emission. Once dissolved in ocean water, the CH₄ emitted can be aerobically oxidized and converted into either carbon dioxide (CO₂) or biomass. While hypotheses have been levied suggesting that the CO₂ produced from aerobic methane oxidation could enhance ocean acidification, no empirical research has been performed to confirm or refute this hypothesis. The work presented here investigates local changes in seawater-dissolved CO₂ and pH in a region that is experiencing active CH₄ seepage near the upper stability boundary of methane clathrate hydrates. We show that in an area of elevated CH₄ concentrations and aerobic oxidation rates, Hudson Canyon, aerobic CH₄ oxidation is only responsible for 0.3 ± 0.2% of the observed change in dissolved inorganic carbon. Measurements further show that the remineralization of both old marine and young terrestrial organic carbon is contributing more substantially to the observed changes. While this investigation did not investigate chronic, multiyear changes in ocean acidification due to CH₄ oxidation, these results suggest that over short timescales, CH₄ oxidation in seep fields does not have an acute influence on seawater pH.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0028980

OSTI ID:: 1539765

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1460427

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 123; ISSN 2169-8953

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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