Measurements of the fate of gas hydrates during transit through the ocean water column
- 30 November 2002
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Geophysical Research Letters
- Vol. 29 (22) , 38-1-38-4
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2002gl014727
Abstract
We report on controlled experiments to document the fate of naturally occurring methane hydrate released from the sea floor (780 m, 4.3°C) by remotely operated vehicle (ROV) disturbance. Images of buoyant sediment‐coated solids rising (∼0.24 m/s) from the debris cloud, soon revealed clear crystals of methane hydrate as surficial material sloughed off. Decomposition and visible degassing began close to the predicted phase boundary, yet pieces initially of ∼0.10 m size easily survived transit to the surface ocean. Smaller pieces dissolved or dissociated before reaching the surface ocean, yet effectively transferred gas to depths where atmospheric ventilation times are short relative to methane oxidation rates.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fishing trawler nets Massive “Catch” of methane hydratesEos, 2001
- Probing Gas Hydrate DepositsAmerican Scientist, 2001
- The Source and Fate of Massive Carbon Input During the Latest Paleocene Thermal MaximumScience, 1999
- Gas, fire, and waterEos, 1999
- Gas hydrate destabilization: enhanced dewatering, benthic material turnover and large methane plumes at the Cascadia convergent marginEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1999
- Direct Experiments on the Ocean Disposal of Fossil Fuel CO 2Science, 1999
- Methane in the northern Atlantic controlled by microbial oxidation and atmospheric historyGeophysical Research Letters, 1999
- Dissociation of oceanic methane hydrate as a cause of the carbon isotope excursion at the end of the PaleocenePaleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 1995
- Gas hydrates—geological perspective and global changeReviews of Geophysics, 1993
- Consumption of dissolved methane in the deep ocean 1Limnology and Oceanography, 1978