What happens if methane is released

Extra Info Bacteria convert methane. Climate change and methane hydrates. How methane ends up in the ocean People have been burning coal, oil and natural gas for more than a hundred years.

Methane hydrates, on the other hand, have only recently come under controversial discussion as a potential future energy source from the ocean a potential future energy source from the ocean Further information on this topic is available here: WOR 1 - Additional Information on methane hydates WOR 3 - Energy from burning ice.

That pressure diffuses all the way to the seafloor, controlling the precarious stability in seafloor sediments. But what happens when the ice sheets melt?

New research, published on today in Geology, indicates that during the last two global periods of sea-ice melt, the decrease in pressure triggered methane release from buried reserves. Their results demonstrate that as Arctic ice, such as the Greenland ice sheet, melts, similar methane release is likely and should be included in climate models.

Pierre-Antoine Dessandier, a postdoctoral scientist at the Arctic University of Norway, and his co-authors were interested in two periods around 20 thousand years ago ka , known as the Last Glacial Maximum LGM , and ka, known as the Eemian deglaciation. Because the Eemian had less ice and was warmer than the LGM, it is more similar to what the Arctic is experiencing today, serving as a good analogue for future climate change.

Seafloor methane emission is important to consider for modeling spatial estimations of future climate. To track past methane release, Dessandier measured isotopes of carbon carbon molecules with slightly different compositions in the shells of tiny ocean-dwellers called foraminifera.

Because the foraminifera build their shells using ingredients from the water around them, the carbon signal in the shells reflects the chemistry of the ocean while they were alive. After they die, those shells are preserved in seafloor sediments, slowly building a record spanning tens of thousands of years.

To reach that record, Dessandier and the team needed to drill a deep core off the western coast of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

The team collected two cores: a meter reference core, which they used to date and correlate stratigraphy, and a meter core spanning the LGM and the Eemian deglaciations. The site for the meter core was chosen based on its "pockmark" feature, marking where the gas escaped violently in the past, and massive carbonate rocks that form where methane is still leaking out today. Carbon isotopes of microscopic shells in the long core revealed multiple episodes of methane release, which geochemists recognize from their distinct spikes in the record.

Because methane is still seeping from the sediments, Dessandier needed to to make sure the signal wasn't from modern interference. He compared the shells' carbon isotope values to measurements his colleagues made on carbonate minerals that formed outside the shells, after the foraminifera had died, when methane emission was at its most intense.

The isotopic record showed that as ice melted and pressure on the seafloor lessened, methane was released in violent spurts, slow seeps, or -- most likely -- a combination of both. By the time the ice disappeared completely, some thousands of years later, methane emissions had stabilized. How much methane eventually made it to the atmosphere, which is what would contribute to the greenhouse effect, remains uncertain.

The move also requires the EPA to expand its ambitious, next-generation methane safeguards to achieve even deeper cuts to this harmful pollution. Raising awareness about the scale and impact of methane leaks is essential to developing effective policy. Our pilot project with Google Earth Outreach helped visualize the climate-damaging leaks found within local communities. Methane: A crucial opportunity in the climate fight.

Why the methane moment is now For many years, methane was overlooked in the climate conversation. Atmospheric concentration of methane is increasing faster now than at any time since the s. How can we fix the methane problem?

A closer look: Explore local leaks Raising awareness about the scale and impact of methane leaks is essential to developing effective policy. Staff perspective Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry is the fastest way to slow the rate of global warming we feel today.