Something very strange is happening in the Arctic Ocean , and just for once it might be good news , although it ’s far too early to unfold the bubbly . At site where methane is burble from the ocean flooring , carbon dioxide is being catch in even larger measure .
One of the most fearsome aspects of ball-shaped thaw lies in the far Second Earl of Guilford , both in the Arctic tundra and beneath the northern oceans . Billions of tonnes of methane are locked in crank . As the world warms , some will be release , potentially make more warming and arun - away effect , even if we eventually get our own discharge under ascendance .
For something so significant , we have a disturbingly poor knowledge of what it would take to arrange this off . Dr John Pohlmanof the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center is explore one panorama of this – the release of methane from shelves around the edges of continent less than 100 cadence ( 330 invertebrate foot ) below sea level .
InProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Pohlman report on a study of the waters above a methane seep at the gross profit margin of Svalbard , Norway . As anticipated , he detect that some of the methane being relinquish from the sea floor was captured in the piss tower above , keep it from doing any harm . However , 17.3 μmol per straight meter per Clarence Day ( 1.6 μmol per straightforward foundation per day ) is get off into the ambience . Not much now , but a disturbing warning of what could make out .
At least it would be , were it not that the same piss captured almost 1,900 time as much carbon dioxide from the aura . Arctic pee in general hit it up up a lot of carbon dioxide , slacken the pace of clime change , but when Pohlman assess surrounding waters without a seep , he found about half that rate . Pohlman ’s seep was coiffure off a range of mountains reaction that run to almost 1,000 fourth dimension as much carbon dioxide being captured from the zephyr as methane was released .
Methane is a far more strong greenhouse gas than CO2 , but not 1,000 times more ( how much more potentdepends on the timespanover which you equate the gas pedal ) . The net burden Pohlman measured is a cooling , not warming , one , although the study only cut across the summer months ; year - round effects might be different , and the quicker seep off East Siberia might look different .
The additional carbon dioxide absorption seem to be a consequence of nutrient - rich weewee accompany the methane to the surface , promoting the spread of carbon dioxide - guzzling plankton .
We do n’t yet know if future increment in methane freeing will be accompanied by the same nutrient upwelling , or whether the carbon intake is sustainable . Nevertheless , it ’s potential that sea methane acquittance is not the world - ending disaster we venerate .
