Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf
Abstract
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.
- Authors:
-
- 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
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1499955
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0028980; PLR-1417149
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES
Citation Formats
Sparrow, Katy J., Kessler, John D., Southon, John R., Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix, Schreiner, Kathryn M., Ruppel, Carolyn D., Miller, John B., Lehman, Scott J., and Xu, Xiaomei. Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao4842.
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. Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao4842
Sparrow, Katy J., Kessler, John D., Southon, John R., Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix, Schreiner, Kathryn M., Ruppel, Carolyn D., Miller, John B., Lehman, Scott J., and Xu, Xiaomei. Wed .
"Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao4842. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1499955.
@article{osti_1499955,
title = {Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf},
author = {Sparrow, Katy J. and Kessler, John D. and Southon, John R. and Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix and Schreiner, Kathryn M. and Ruppel, Carolyn D. and Miller, John B. and Lehman, Scott J. and Xu, Xiaomei},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aao4842},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 1,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:
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Figures / Tables found in this record: