USGS researchers make ground-based permafrost measurements in Alaska.
New study will generate important data on Arctic carbon cycle
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY â€" Methane emissions from Arctic landscapes remain one of the big wild cards in the global warming deck, with some dire predictions that methane from melting permafrost could significantly increase warming.
There has been relatively little sampling in the area, but a research mission led by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences has recently completed airborne measurements that will help establish a baseline for methane and calculate future increases.
The study area covered the entire North Slope of Alaska with low-altitude flights aimed at answering two major questions: How much methane is emitted from permafrost areas into the atmosphere, and do well-known geological point sources, i.e. the leakage of gas along geologic faults, contribute significantly to the total amount or does the microbially produced methane from the upper soil layers dominate?
“First of all, with these measurements we can quantify the current emissions and establish baseline data,†said GFZ scientist Torsten Sachs. On this basis, potential future climate-related changes can be determined. In addition, our data will help to better understand the still incompletely explored carbon cycle in the Arctic.â€
In order to clarify the exact relationship between older geogenic and younger biogenic methane, isotope analysis would be required.
In the Mackenzie Delta, however, the locations of some geological sources are well known, so that selective measurements in the immediate surroundings allow conclusions about their contribution to the total emissions.
In 2002, the GFZ was already involved here in a scientific drilling program for methane hydrate research. Covered by a 600-meter thick permafrost layer, this region stores unusually highly enriched methane hydrate reservoirs. These are currently considered the world’s most significant accumulations under permafrost conditions.
“By using the plane we have measured considerable regional differences in the methane concentration,†said atmospheric researcher Dr. Joerg Hartmann, of the Alfred Wegener Institute. “This finding is new and important: On the one hand, because the point measurements on ground stations have not yielded a very detailed and representative picture of the region. On the other hand because it showed that with the airborne measurements, we can close a data gap between the ground measurements and the available satellite data,†he said.
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Filed under: climate and weather, Environment, global warming Tagged: | Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Arctic, carbon cycle, Environment, global warming, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, methane, permafrost
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