Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjornoya to Kongsfjorden.

ABSTRACT: Numerous articles have recently reported on gas seepage offshore Svalbard, because the gas emission from these Arctic sediments was thought to result from gas hydrate dissociation, possibly triggered by anthropogenic ocean warming. We report on findings of a much broader seepage area, extending from 74° to 79°, where more than a thousand gas discharge sites were imaged as acoustic flares. The gas discharge occurs in water depths at and shallower than the upper edge of the gas hydrate stability zone and generates a dissolved methane plume that is hundreds of kilometer in length. Data collected in the summer of 2015 revealed that 0.02-7.7% of the dissolved methane was aerobically oxidized by microbes and a minor fraction (0.07%) was transferred to the atmosphere during periods of low wind sp

SUBMITTER: Mau S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5322355 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature