The moon could affect the amount of methane released from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean, a new study finds.
The tides, which are controlled by the moon, influence how much methane is released from sediments on the seabed: low tide means less pressure and more methane that is released, while high water causes more pressure and therefore less methane emission.
The research was conducted in the West Svalbard region of the Arctic, with the findings published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
“It is the first time that this observation has been made in the Arctic Ocean. It means that small pressure changes can release significant amounts of methane. This is a game-changer and the biggest impact of the study,” said study co-author Jochen Knies. , a marine geologist at the Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE) said in a statement.
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Methane is one greenhouse gas, which adds to global warming by trapping and retaining heat in the atmosphere. Vast reserves of methane lurk beneath the seafloor, and ocean warming is expected to release some of that trapped methane. Understanding how the tides affect these seafloor methane emissions is thus important for future climate forecasting.
To find this tidal effect, the team measured the pressure and temperature in the sediments and found that gas levels near the seafloor rise and fall with the tides.
Using a permanent monitoring tool, they were able to identify methane release in an area of the Arctic Ocean where it has not been previously observed.
“This tells us that the release of gas from the seafloor is more widespread than we can see with traditional sonar surveys,” study co-author Andreia Plaza Faverola, a marine geologist and geophysicist at CAGE, said in the statement.
Their discovery implies that scientists have underestimated greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic.
“What we found was unexpected and the implications are great. This is a deep-sea site. Small changes in pressure can increase gas emissions, but the methane stays in the ocean through the water depth. But what happens at shallower locations.” This approach should also be done in shallow Arctic waters, over a longer period of time. In shallow water, methane is more likely to reach the atmosphere, “said Knies.
This newly discovered phenomenon also raises questions about how rising sea levels and ocean warming, both of which are caused by climate change, will communicate. As high tides reduce methane emissions, rising sea levels associated with higher tides may be able to partially offset the threat of increased gas emissions from a warming ocean.
Originally published on Live Science.