News Release

Sources of subsea Arctic Ocean methane release

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Echosounder showing methane bubbles rising from sediment to the ocean surface in the Laptev Sea, Arctic Ocean.

image: Echosounder showing methane bubbles rising from sediment to the ocean surface in the Laptev Sea, Arctic Ocean. view more 

Credit: Image credit: Denis Chernykh (Pacific Oceanological Institute, Vladivostok, Russia)

A study using source-diagnostic signatures of three different isotopic forms of dissolved methane in the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf suggests that the origin of the elevated methane, which warms the climate, is likely from an old, deep reservoir; uncovering the sources of subsea methane release could help forecast future emissions, according to the authors.

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Article #20-19672: "Source apportionment of methane escaping the subsea permafrost system in the outer Eurasian Arctic Shelf," by Julia Steinbach et al.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Örjan Gustafsson,
Stockholm University, SWEDEN;
email: <Orjan.Gustafsson@aces.su.se>


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