ALBUFEIRA

We are sniffing methane

(The Watchers)

Vast methane plumes discovered escaping from the seafloor of Arctic ocean

Methane bubbles

Just a week into the methane sampling program and SWERUS-C3 Arctic expedition scientists have discovered vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor of the Laptev continental slope. These early glimpses of what may be in store for a warming Arctic Ocean could help scientists project the future releases of the strong greenhouse gas methane from the Arctic ocean, their press release states.

Results of preliminary analyses of seawater samples pointed towards levels of dissolved methane 10–50 times higher than background levels.

We are sniffing methane

All analysis tells the signs

We are in a Mega flare

We see it in the water column we read it above the surface and we follow it up high into the sky with radars and lasers

We see it mixed in the air and carried away with the winds.

Methane in the air

(Ulf Hedman, Science Coordinator, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat)

The discovery was made while the icebreaker Oden crosscut the Laptev Sea along a depth gradient from 1000 m to just 100 m following the continental slope upward to reach the shallow waters of the outer Laptev Sea Shelf.

By use of acoustic techniques and geochemical analyses of water samples, the scientists found vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor at depths between 500 m and 150 m. At several places, the methane “bubbles“ even rose to the ocean surface.

(texto/parcial e imagens – The Watchers)