International Expedition on Arctic Quest to Find Alternative Fuels
26.11.2009 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Other, Arctic
An international team of scientists from the Marine Biogeochemistry and Geology and Geophysics departments of the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) led a team of university and government scientists to the Beaufort Sea to begin looking for methane hydrate (a large amount of methane is trapped within the crystal structure of water ice, also known as methyl clathrate or methane ice) in the area.
Aboard the USCG Polar Sea, the team surveyed and sampled three cross-shelf transects off Alaska's North Slope at Hammerhead, Thetis Island and Halkett. The sampling was done to determine the variations in the shallow sediment and water column methane sources, methane cycling and the subsequent flux to the atmosphere. Though variable in contents, location and distribution, large deposits of methane hydrate occur over large areas of the ocean floor.
Called Methane in the Arctic Shelf and Slope (MITAS-1), the 12-day expedition has six major objectives:
- Obtain and integrate seismic, acoustic, temperature, geochemical, and stratified rock layer data for evaluating deep sediment hydrate distributions;
- Estimate spatial variation and controls on the vertical methane flux with respect to variations in the character fo stratified rocks, geologic structures, water column temperatures, heat flow, seismic and acoustic profiles, and water depth;
- Develop and calibrate models to evaluate sediment hydrate loading, hydrate destabilization through warming and the fate of methane once it has been destabalized;
- Determine and model the transport of methane through the water column into the atmosphere
- Study the control of total methane emissions by microbial methane consumption in the sediment and water column
- Study the contribution of methane to the benthic (ocean floor) and pelagic (water colum) carbon cycling.
