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#           Negligible atmospheric release of methane from decomposing hydrates in mid-latitude oceans      

      October 17, 2022    

Naturally occurring gas hydrates may contribute to a positive feedback for global warming because they sequester large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane in ice-like deposits that could be destabilized by increasing ocean/atmospheric temperatures. Most hydrates occur within marine sediments; gas liberated during the decomposition of seafloor hydrates or originating with other methane pools can feed methane emissions at cold seeps. Regardless of the origin of seep methane, all previous measurements of methane emitted from seeps have shown it to have a unique fossil radiocarbon signature, contrasting with other sources of marine methane. Here we present the concentration and natural radiocarbon content of methane dissolved in the water column from the seafloor to the sea surface at seep fields along the US Atlantic and Pacific margins. For shallower water columns, where the seafloor is not within the hydrate stability zone, we do document seep CH4 in some surface-water samples. However, measurements in deeper water columns along the US Atlantic margin reveal no evidence of seep CH4 reaching surface waters when the water-column depth is greater than 430 ± 90 m. Gas hydrates exist only at water depths greater than ~550 m in this region, suggesting that the source of methane escaping to the atmosphere is not from hydrate decomposition.

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October 15, 2018

####                 U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project              

Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

link

October 15, 2018

####   U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project

Learn More

#### Carolyn Ruppel, PhD

##### Chief, USGS Gas Hydrates Project

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program

Energy Resources Program

cruppel@usgs.gov

508-457-2339

## Related Content

link

October 15, 2018

####                 U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project              

Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

link

October 15, 2018

####   U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project

Learn More

#### Carolyn Ruppel, PhD

##### Chief, USGS Gas Hydrates Project

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program

Energy Resources Program

cruppel@usgs.gov

508-457-2339

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#### Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

384 Woods Hole Rd.Woods Hole, MA02543United States

508-548-8700

508-457-2310

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