It was long feared that methane gas stored in the submarine sediments in the artic may be released in the event of artic warming. Methane gas released in this way has been determined to contribute to climate change. Over thirty years of artic current warming has finally resulted in the release of the methane gas from methane hydrate found in the sediments beneath the sea bed.  Read more about Coal Bed Methane Global Market Potential

Researchers from the University of Birmingham and scientists at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton working in collaboration with, Royal Holloway London and IFM-Geomar in Germany recently discovered the release of methane gas in the form of 250 plumes rising from the seabed at a depth of 150 to 400 meters. The phenomenon was observed in the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic.

It was discovered when University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science based at the National Oceanography Centre conducted a survey to determine the extent of methane gas release in the future due to ocean warming. However Professor Tim Minshull said that they had no idea that the process of methane gas release had already started and that they would find such strong evidence of the phenomenon.

The data for the study was collected as part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s International Polar Year Initiative from the royal research ship RRS James Clark Ross. The methane gas bubble plumes were detected with the help of sonar, but a water bottle sampling system was also used over a range of depths to confirm the finding. 

The methane gas is being released from the methane hydrate stored in the sediments at the bottom of the sea bed. This methane hydrates as the name suggests is a combination of water and methane which is an ice-like substance. It is stable under high pressure and low temperature conditions currently this level of stability is at 400 meters in the ocean however just thirty years ago this level stood at 360 meters which as astounding increase of 40 meters in just three decades

Scientists believe that even though such methane gas release from the ocean sediments may have taken place in the past, such a phenomenon in response to climate change had never been observed before in the modern period. This methane gas release can be directly attributed to the 1 degree increase in the temperature of the West Spitsbergen current that is northward flowing. This increase in temperate over the last thirty years has caused the release of methane gas from methane hydrate found in the sediments beneath the sea bed.

Even though the methane gas released through the plumes mixes with the sea water before it reaches the atmosphere there is no telling when the intensity of the phenomenon may increase substantially because such episodes of methane gas seeps are episodic and unpredictable. Also, methane gas dissolved in the sea water leads to the ocean acidification.

According to Graham Westbrook who is Professor of Geophysics at the University of Birmingham, the threat would be amplified if the process gains momentum and becomes more widespread along the continental margins of the Arctic. If such a scenario does take place there is a possibility of tens of megatonnes of methane gas being released into the ocean each year which will be equivalent to 5-10% of total amount of methane gas released globally through natural sources.