GreenFlux · Effect of climate change on greenhouse gas fluxes from marine Artic regions

Effect of climate change on greenhouse gas fluxes from marine Artic regions

Which role do greenhouse gasses emitted from the sea floor play in climate change? GreenFlux is an original investigation into the contribution of high-latitude continental margins and shelf seas to global greenhouse gas emissions by assessing the sensitivity of sub-seafloor permafrost and gas hydrates to climate change. With innovative and integrated approaches, I evaluated how the environmental changes since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; about twenty thousand years ago) impacted gas release from the seafloor and which helps to assess how the Arctic may develop in a future warmer world. Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times cause the Arctic to warm at a faster pace compared to the planet. This is known as Artic amplification and causes an exacerbation of climatic effects such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Particularly in the Arctic, key players that likely have a strong impact on global climate are permafrost soils and marine gas hydrates, because both host large amounts of carbon. Permafrost in marine sediments has likely developed in aerially exposed areas during the extreme cold (-20°C annual mean temperature) and low sea level (-120 m) of the Late Pleistocene. These conditions (high-pressure/low-temperature) were also favorable for gas hydrate formation. Thus, “relic” permafrost and gas hydrate may exist in the Arctic to present water depths of 120 m (Figure 1). Current global warming may cause an increase in melting of permafrost and gas hydrates and thus release more greenhouse gases into the ocean or even the atmosphere (climatic feedback). However, the sensitivity of permafrost and gas hydrates to rising temperatures is poorly constrained. Our understanding of the involved geologic processes in the Arctic predominantly relies on observations from natural cold seeps offshore Svalbard. In and around Northeast (NE) Greenland, these cold seeps have received very little attention and it thus remains a “white gap” on the map. This is partly because of a lack of data and insufficient mapping at high resolution, in particular for the NE Greenland shelf. Because NE Greenland is a white gap, current compilations may significantly mis-predict the carbon budget in the Arctic. My project “Effect of climate change on greenhouse gas fluxes from marine Artic regions” (GreenFlux) aims to provide groundbreaking scientific basis on the underlying geologic processes of greenhouse gas emissions from marine sediments.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз