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Arctic permafrost

Microbial lid on subsea methane

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 723–724 (2015)Cite this article

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Submarine permafrost thaw in the Arctic has been suggested as a trigger for the release of large quantities of methane to the water column, and subsequently the atmosphere — with important implications for global warming. Now research shows that microbial oxidation of methane at the thaw front can effectively prevent its release.

Methane gas has a high global warming potential on sub-century timescales, and release of currently trapped methane could drive rapid climate change1. Thus the possibility of substantial amounts of this greenhouse gas reaching the atmosphere has attracted attention — both in scientific and policy discussions. A potentially important source could be methane trapped within permafrost, including subsea sources that may be extensive and unstable. Staggering amounts of methane are thought to exist below the Russian Arctic shelf seas, mostly associated with shallow gas hydrates (solid ice-like structures encapsulating gas molecules) beneath and within the permafrost. Writing in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Pier Paul Overduin and colleagues report on a sediment core retrieved from beneath the shallow waters (4 m depth) of the southern Laptev Sea, a location inundated only 540 years ago, thus offering insight into sedimentation, thawing, and other processes that affect the inner shelf since sea levels began to rise at the end of the last glaciation. A suite of biogeochemical data directly related to methane dynamics in this setting is presented for the first time, showing methane gas is consumed by microbes before it can reach the overlying ocean2.

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Figure 1: Anaerobic oxidation of methane at a subsea permafrost thaw front.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brett F. Thornton and Patrick Crill are in the Department of Geological Sciences and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden,

    Brett F. Thornton & Patrick Crill

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  1. Brett F. Thornton
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  2. Patrick Crill
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Correspondence to Brett F. Thornton or Patrick Crill.

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Thornton, B., Crill, P. Microbial lid on subsea methane. Nature Clim Change 5, 723–724 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2740

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