Methane on EARTH Magazine

Pluto's surprising dunes

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 11:12:07 -0400

Images from New Horizons' 2015 flyby of Pluto show evenly spaced ridges that look like sand dunes. Credit: NASA.

Images and data sent back by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby mission to Pluto (and beyond) show a series of regularly spaced linear ridges sandwiched between a mountain range and Sputnik Planitia, a vast plain of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ice. “When we first saw the New Horizons images, we thought instantly that these were dunes, but it was really surprising because we know there is not much of an atmosphere [on Pluto],” said Jani Radebaugh, a planetary scientist at Brigham Young University and co-author of a study in Science announcing the findings, in a statement.

Methane emissions offset some blue carbon burial benefits

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 09:34:39 -0400

A new study measuring emissions from tropical mangroves, like this one in Australia, suggests that the mangroves' methane emissions are higher than previously thought. Credit: Gentlefriends, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wetlands are prolific sinks for atmospheric carbon. They pull carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester the carbon in plants, soils and sediments. But there’s a catch: Wetlands also emit methane, an even more potent, albeit far less abundant, greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Two new studies, one measuring methane emissions from a rehabilitated freshwater peatland in California and the other looking at emissions from tropical mangrove forests in Australia, are revealing that these so-called “blue carbon” sinks may emit much more methane than previously thought.

Red Planet Roundup: August 2018

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 11:51:32 -0400

A mosaic of satellite images (with gaps appearing black) shows a massive dust storm that raged on Mars in June, affecting both the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, six spacecraft orbiting above it, and scientists here on Earth studying the Red Planet from afar, new findings are announced often. Here are a few of the latest updates.

Down to Earth With: Peter Brewer

Wed, 23 May 2018 15:21:29 -0400

Whether through deep-sea gas hydrate experiments, lasers or asphyxiating squid, Peter Brewer is always seeking new ways to understand the changing chemistry of the oceans. Brewer has embarked on a series of groundbreaking projects throughout his career. During his nearly 24 years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he was the chief architect of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, launched by the United States in the late 1980s to track the cycling of carbon and other chemical elements between the atmosphere, oceans and seafloor — and to understand human impacts on these cycles.

Comment: Could NASA find evidence of extraterrestrial life by 2050?

Tue, 01 May 2018 12:26:02 -0400

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which launched in April, is the successor to the Kepler Space Telescope and is the most sophisticated exoplanet-hunting spacecraft yet. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

by Jacob Haqq-Misra

Red Planet Roundup: February 2018

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:40:47 -0500

An artist's depiction of solar magnetic field lines (yellow), localized Martian field lines (blue) and magnetic reconnected field lines (red) all contributing to Mars' complex magnetotail. Credit: Anil Rao/Univ. of Colorado/MAVEN/NASA.

Reconstructing ancient oxidant levels and their climatic effects

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:23:14 -0400

Credit: Sara E. Pratt.

Oxidants in the troposphere, such as ozone and hydroxyl radicals, influence the life spans of other atmospheric components, including pollutants and greenhouse gases like carbon monoxide and methane. But how the abundance of tropospheric oxidants varies as climate changes is poorly understood. Part of the challenge is that these oxidants are too reactive to be preserved in paleo-records, such as ice cores.

Red Planet Roundup: November 2015

Fri, 23 Oct 2015 11:54:42 -0400

Light-colored and silica-rich quartz and feldspar crystals appear in this dioritic rock photographed recently by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, five spacecraft orbiting above it, and scientists here on Earth studying the Red Planet from afar, new findings are announced often. Here are a few of the latest updates.

One-two punch of past warming may hold lessons

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:27:03 -0400

Cores of ancient soils collected from Wyoming's Bighorn Basin reveal new features of ancient climate change. Credit: Scott Wing, Smithsonian Institution.

Geologists are fond of the saying, “The past is key to the future.” Unfortunately, the past has been a poor guide when it comes to understanding modern climate change. Now, however, a new study suggests that one episode — a spike in global temperatures that occurred about 55 million years ago — may be a better analog than previously thought, and could yield insights into the planet’s future.

Methane be dammed!

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:08:51 -0400

Ponds and wetlands created by beaver dams, like this one in Rhode Island, may produce significant amounts of methane. Credit: Mary Caperton Morton.

Beavers were nearly killed off in the 19th century as trappers hunted them for their soft pelts. A successful conservation effort over the past 100 years brought the dam-builders back from the brink, but a new study published in the journal AMBIO has found that all those beaver-built ponds may be producing significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas.

Red Planet Roundup: March 2015

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 13:41:29 -0500

The sediments that formed these laminated rock layers, photographed by the Curiosity rover's Mastcam last August, are thought to have been deposited in a long-lasting lake in Gale Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, five spacecraft in orbit above it, and scientists back here on Earth studying the Red Planet from afar, new findings are announced almost weekly. Here are a few of the latest updates.

Hundreds of methane seeps discovered along the U.S. East Coast

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 14:08:21 -0400

Methane bubbles stream from seafloor sediments off the coast of Virginia north of an area called Washington Canyon. Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, 2013 ROV Shakedown and Field Trials in the U.S. Atlantic Canyons.

The release of methane from seafloor sediments may have a significant influence on global climate, but the ubiquity and stability of such pockets is not well understood. Now the discovery of hundreds of methane seeps on the seafloor along the U.S. East Coast suggests that such reservoirs may be more common along passive margins than previously thought. The easily accessible region may prove to be an ideal natural laboratory for studying how such seafloor methane may influence water temperatures and ultimately climate.

Methane lingered after Gulf blowout

Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:42:43 -0400

Between April 20, 2010, when BP’s Macondo oil well blew out, and July 15, when the well was finally capped, more than 4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico. Along with it came up to 500,000 metric tons of natural gas, mostly methane. Previously, researchers tracking the fate of those chemicals and their impacts on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem estimated that most of the methane had been consumed by methane-oxidizing bacteria by the end of August 2010.

Subarctic lakes belch more methane on brighter days

Thu, 15 May 2014 10:14:36 -0400

An aerial view of some of the subarctic lakes in Sweden studied by Martin Wik and his team. Credit: Jo Uhlbäck

Each summer, frozen ground in Arctic and subarctic regions, called permafrost, thaws and releases accumulated methane. For years, scientists have searched for a clear-cut way to estimate the amount of this potent greenhouse gas that these areas contribute to the atmosphere and the changing climate. Now, they have come one step closer to solving part of the problem.

Sudden gas eruption shakes the ground near Rome's airport

Mon, 03 Mar 2014 18:36:13 -0500

Gas leaks from the crater found near Rome's airport. Credit: Giancarlo Ciotoli.

On Aug. 24, 2013, visitors arriving at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, located in the Fiumicino municipality, flew over a surprising hazard: a gas emission that suddenly exploded from the ground a few meters outside the airport compound. The expulsion, referred to as the Fiumicino Gas Vent (FGV), occurred about 15 kilometers southwest of Rome and was first noticed by passing motorists. Shortly after the explosion, scientists sought to determine the gas’ makeup and whether it posed a continuing danger.

Listening for gas bubbles

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:39:21 -0500

Methane hydrate recovered during a U.S. Geological Survey gas hydrate research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico in 2002. Passive acoustic techniques may be used to find gas hydrate deposits. William Winters, USGS

Passive acoustic technology detects natural gas leaks and seeps

In recent decades, active acoustic surveys have been used to detect methane seeps and gas hydrates — deposits of crystalline solids consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, surrounded by a cage of water molecules — buried under the seafloor.

Source code: the methane race

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:59:21 -0500

Estimated contributions of methane emissions in the U.S. Such emissions ratios are hard to tease out. NASA GISS

Doug Rumble of the Carnegie Institution of Washington stands behind a mass spectrometer. Doug Rumble

UCLA geochemist Ed Young in his lab, where he's working on sourcing methane using isotopologues. Ed Young

Ten years ago, John Eiler couldn’t convince anyone to build him his dream machine. He wanted a mass spectrometer that could measure the mass of common gases with extreme precision and sensitivity, but such a device would cost more than a million dollars and might not find a market: The companies that could make it didn’t think they would be able to sell more than just the one to Eiler, which didn’t make it worth their while. Even Eiler didn’t know exactly what problems he could solve with the device, though he had a hunch it would be useful. “At that time it felt so outlandish,” says Eiler, a geochemist at Caltech. “There were no examples of someone solving a scientific problem this way. So they basically all said ’no.'”

Still in a haze: What we don't know about black carbon

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Black carbon — fine particles of soot in the atmosphere produced from the burning of fossil fuels or biomass — has been known to be a health hazard for decades, a major contributor to the thick hazes of pollution hovering over cities around the world. But over the last decade, scientists have been examining in increasing detail the various ways in which these particles contribute to another hazard: heating up the planet.

Testing methane's potential on the North Slope

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Sediment cores reveal hydrates (the white part of the core). An estimated 17 trillion cubic meters of natural gas as methane hydrates are stored beneath the North Slope. U.S. Geological Survey

In the Canadian Arctic, scientists are testing whether methane production through depressurization is feasible. U.S. Geological Survey

A chunk of methane hydrate. U.S. Geological Survey

One concern about depressurizing methane hydrates in the North Slope is that it could cause the marshy ground to collapse under the weight of production infrastructure. Dave Houseknecht, U.S. Geological Survey

Buried beneath the gigantic swath of desolate tundra that forms Alaska’s North Slope are some of the nation’s biggest hydrocarbon resources. For decades, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline has supplied about 20 percent of the nation’s oil. But below the permafrost of the Last Frontier lies another huge fossil fuel resource — and this one is a lot harder to tap.

USGS finds giant gas hydrate deposits on North Slope

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Buried beneath Alaska's North Slope are about 85.4 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas hydrates, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey assessment. That would be a significant source of energy to add to the U.S. energy mix — enough natural gas to heat 100 million homes for 10 years, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday.