Dear Professor Westbrook,
Thank you for your response about the width of the shelf margin.
Stephen Salter is working on a method using large plastic sheets to
funnel the methane bubbling up from across an area of the sea bed into a
concentrated stream, and then capturing it. But of course this
funnelling can occur naturally, as one can see from the hundreds of
underwater plumes that you have detected arising from the seabed of the
West Spitzbergen continental margin [1]. Am I right that, at present,
few of these plumes are reaching the surface? Is this because the water
is sufficiently oxygenated for oxidation to occur within the water
column? Is there a danger of this oxygen getting used up? But, if
oxidation does continue, isn't there a danger of excessive ocean
acidification, given the quantities of methane?
Do you have any suggestions for how one might deal with the methane
rising in a plume, to minimise the various associated hazards:
greenhouse gas warming if it reaches the surface, deoxidation of water
making it sterile, acidification of the water disrupting the marine food
chain that relies on shelled creatures, etc.?
Best wishes,
John
Tel: +44 20 8742 3170
Skype: john.nissen4
P.S. I want as much brainstorming done before the meeting as possible,
especially to involve people who might not be able to attend in person.
[1] http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/64607/1/2009gl039191%2Baux.pdf
---
On 03/10/2011 18:03, John Nissen wrote:
Dear Professor Westbrook,
A workshop has been arranged on the weekend 15-16 October in Chiswick,
London W4, to see how to tackle the Arctic methane problem - in
particular how to prevent large quantities of methane reaching the
atmosphere and aggrevating global warming. For some years it has been
apparent that there is vast quantity of carbon locked up in
permafrost, which is liable to be released as methane as the Arctic
warms [1]. Global warming potential of methane is high but lifetime
is short, so the speed of discharge is very important to know.
Unfortunately recent evidence suggests that the Arctic warming is
accelerating, the Arctic Ocean could be seasonably ice free within a
few years, and there is already much methane venting taking place.
Therefore the situation appears extremely dangerous, and it is vital
that some plan of action is developed as quickly as possible. That is
the basic reason for the workshop.
We had originally planned for the workshop to concentrate on the
methane from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, ESAS, since Shakhova et
al claim that up to ~50 Gt of methane could be released "at any
moment" [2], e.g. if there were an earthquake (and the ESAS contains
an earthquake zone). However just in the last few days, I have seen
reports of high levels of methane in the upper atmosphere which could
have originated from shelf margins, and I came across a paper you
co-authored [3].
I would be extremely grateful if you could come to the workshop, even
if only for part of one day (preferably Saturday 15th), to discuss
your work on the methane from shelf margins, which I see is one of
your main research topics [4].
One of the main contributors to the workshop is a brilliant engineer
and inventor, Professor Stephen Salter, who has some ideas for
capturing methane underwater. He needs to know the conditions of the
shelf margins and distribution of venting over the field. For
example, what is the typical width of the shelf margin where the vents
occur? In the paper [3], it is mentioned that 900 Kg of methane may
be emitted per metre of length of the shelf margin, but over what width?
Working in regions where there is sea ice is going to be a challenge,
so we have an expert on sea ice, Professor Peter Wadhams, coming to
the workshop. He is particularly concerned about the sea ice volume
decline, where the current trend suggests a zero volume for September
2015 [5].
BTW, some time ago I had asked Euan Nisbet to come to the workshop,
but unfortunately he is unable to attend. So I had been looking to
the PERGAMON project, and Jens Greinart, with his knowledge of natural
gas venting. It now appears that he might not be able to attend
either. So your experience from the PERGAMON project could be very
valuable at the workshop.
I apologise for the extremely short notice, but I look forward to
hearing from you.
Kind regards,
John (Nissen)
College House,
Chiswick Mall,
London W4 2PR
Tel: 020 8742 3170
Mob: 07890 657 498
[1] http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Schuur.pdf
[2] Reported in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_release
See also [2a] http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5970/1246.short
and [2b]
http://earth.usc.edu/ftp/lund/BERING%20SEA%20EXP%20323/Uservol/Articles%20of%20interest/Eurasian%20Basin/Shakova%20and%20Semiletov%202007.pdf
[3] http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/64607/1/2009gl039191%2Baux.pdf
[4] http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gees/westbrook-graham.aspx
[5] http://neven1.typepad.com/.a/6a0133f03a1e37970b015433129b3e970c-popup
---
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