Leakage of methane from the environment and human activity is a serious problem of greenhouse gases. Methane is many times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, and scientists say the Moon plays a key role in the amount of gas released.
It is all due to the tides and the pulling effect that the Moon’s gravitational pull has on them, a phenomenon we can quantify. By placing a piezometer instrument in the Arctic Ocean for four days and nights, the researchers were able to measure changes in temperature and pressure over time.
What they found was that the presence of methane gas near the seabed rises and falls with the tides, which is an important factor that contributes to the release of methane and affects the climate change we are witnessing now and in the future. .
The piezometer is recovered. (P. Domel)
“We observed that gas accumulations, which are found in sediments less than a meter from the seabed, are vulnerable to even slight changes in pressure in the water column,” says marine geophysicist Andreia Plaza- Faverola from the University of Tromsø (Arctic University of Norway).
“Low tide means less hydrostatic pressure and a higher intensity of methane release. High tide equals high pressure and lower release intensity.”
These methane leaks in the Arctic Ocean have occurred for thousands of years, caused by factors such as seismic and volcanic activity, but there is much more to know about the mechanisms that cause this leak and affect its speed.
That’s where the Moon and the tides come in. Researchers say tides could be used as a way to predict the amount of gas released from the Arctic Ocean overnight, even with variations in tide height of less than a meter. ).
One of the takeaways is that the release of gas from the seabed is more widespread than data from conventional sonar surveys shows, and we may have underestimated the amount of gas the Arctic is currently filtering. , even if it is not released all at once.
“Terrestrial systems are interconnected in ways we’re still deciphering, and our study reveals one of those interconnections in the Arctic,” says Plaza-Faverola.
“The Moon causes tidal forces, the tides generate changes in pressure and bottom currents which in turn shape the seabed and affect methane emissions from submarines.”
The study also raises the possibility that rising sea levels may offset the release of methane from the oceans, as higher water pressure keeps the gas trapped for longer. It’s just one of many factors that scientists have to weigh.
Researchers then want to capture more data over a longer period of time to see how changes in tides affect methane release in the region as a whole: from deepwater sites like this, to areas of high tide. shallow waters where the effect of tidal variations on gas release is likely to be even greater.
Although tidal changes have been related to methane emissions in the past, the geographic location of this study and the fluctuations observed due to even smaller pressure differences make it a crucial new information point for to modeling climate change in the future.
“This is the first time this observation has been made in the Arctic Ocean,” says marine geologist Jochen Knies.
“It means slight changes in pressure can release significant amounts of methane. That’s a game changer and the biggest impact of the study.”
The research has been published in Communications on Nature.