Researchers uncover natural seepage of oil and gas off Northeast Greenland

A large research study by an international team of scientists led by Christoph Böttner from Aarhus University shows clear evidence of extensive natural hydrocarbon seepage along the Northeast Greenland margin — one of the least explored continental margins on Earth. 

The new discoveries of widespread natural seepage and gas hydrates in NE Greenland represent a significant advance in our understanding of natural seepage across the Arctic. This is important in the light of rapidly changing climate in the Arctic and Antarctic.

“We now provide a detailed picture of the migration of oil and gas from deep beneath the seafloor in Northeast Greenland and their release into the ocean,” says Assistant Professor in Marine Seismic Sedimentology Christoph Böttner, lead author of the study, who conducted the work during his Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at Aarhus University.

Valuable data on migration of gases

The research study combines new academic field studies in the waters off northeast Greenland with geoscientific data sets from previous industry expeditions. This has made it possible to capture in great detail the migration of gases from source to where they enter the sea.

“The wealth of data has given us new insights into how natural methane emissions contribute to the Arctic carbon cycle. It means we have now better means to distinguish between the seepage that has been going on for thousands of years and potential increased release we are seeing because of climate change and the rising sea temperatures,” says Christoph Böttner.

Northeast Greenland a pertinent location for climate research

The study, which has just been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment [DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02932-8], is one of the first [cb1] to systematically map oil and gas seepage from the seafloor off northeast Greenland.

According to Christoph Böttner, northeast Greenland is a particularly interesting place because it is one of the least explored and most inaccessible regions on Earth. It is also a frontier of Arctic transformation under ongoing climate change. This makes it a unique laboratory for studying natural methane and oil seepage and its response to changes in the environment. 

Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Professor at the Department of Geoscience at Aarhus University and co-author of the study, adds:

“Northeast Greenland plays an important role in climate research and in our understanding of the carbon cycle. Oil and gas seepage not only affect carbon fluxes in the ocean and atmosphere, but also life in the sea – from microorganisms to animals and mammals that have adapted to life in the icy waters.”

Climate change means that the Arctic is warming up to 4 times faster than the rest of the globe, making research in the area more urgent.

Frank Werner Jakobsen, co-author of the study and a PhD researcher at the Centre for Ice, Cryosphere, Carbon and Climate (iC3) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, focusing on Northeast Greenland, explains:

“We provide the first evidence for gas hydrates on the shelf. Gas hydrates are ice-like structures that form from water and gas in the sediments under low temperatures and high pressure. Our study can help us understand whether future thawing could release even more greenhouse gases. At the same time, we are gaining new knowledge about how glaciers and ice, erosion and tectonics have shaped the seafloor and continental shelf in the Arctic over thousands of years.”

Mapping to be used in future climate models

The researchers have calculated that between 677 and 1,460 million tonnes of gas – equivalent to 0.5–1.1 billion tonnes of carbon – has been released into the sea since grounded ice retreated from the shelf around 15,000 years ago. This highlights the fact that natural hydrocarbon seepage, including methane seepage, has been an ongoing process in the area for thousands of years.

The study also suggests that more gas may be released in the future as sea temperatures rise.  It is important to understand the current state of the seepage to predict any future behaviour, points out Christoph Böttner.

“Climate change is already warming the Arctic at a high pace, and we do not even know the status-quo of seepage in many areas. Our study closes an important gap regarding natural seepage of oil and gas but also gas hydrates on the shallow Arctic shelves. The consequences of the observed seepage and implications for global climate and ecosystem are yet poorly understood.”

He recommends that the findings should be factored into the models used by researchers to predict the climate of the future. 

“Our calculations and data set demonstrate that there are sources of greenhouse gases in the Arctic, which are not yet documented. Polar regions are transforming rapidly under climate change with strong implications for global climate and ecosystems, so it is important to be able to understand and estimate the natural methane emissions and to factor them into our calculations of future greenhouse gas effects,” says Christoph Böttner.