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    Shrinking Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of methane    
      
     Date:   
         July 6, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Cambridge   
     Summary:   
         As the Arctic warms, shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling   
         groundwater springs which could provide an underestimated source   
         of the potent greenhouse gas methane, finds new research.   
      
      
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   As the Arctic warms, shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling groundwater   
   springs which could provide an underestimated source of the potent   
   greenhouse gas methane, finds new research published today in Nature   
   Geoscience.   
      
   The study, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the   
   University Centre in Svalbard, Norway, identified large stocks of methane   
   gas leaking from groundwater springs unveiled by melting glaciers.   
      
   The research suggests that these methane emissions will likely increase   
   as Arctic glaciers retreat and more springs are exposed. This, and other   
   methane emissions from melting ice and frozen ground in the Arctic,   
   could exacerbate global warming.   
      
   "These springs are a considerable, and potentially growing, source of   
   methane emissions -- one that has been missing from our estimations of   
   the global methane budget until now," said Gabrielle Kleber, lead author   
   of the research who is from Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences.   
      
   Scientists are concerned that additional methane emissions released by   
   the Arctic thaw could ramp-up human-induced global warming. The springs   
   the researchers studied hadn't previously been recognized as a potential   
   source of methane emissions.   
      
   Kleber spent nearly three years monitoring the water chemistry of more   
   than a hundred springs across Svalbard, where air temperatures are   
   rising two times faster than the average for the Arctic. She likens   
   Svalbard to the canary in the coal mine of global warming, "Since it   
   is warming faster than the rest of the Arctic, we can get a preview   
   of the potential methane release that could happen at a larger scale   
   across this region."  Professor Andrew Hodson, study co-author from the   
   University Centre in Svalbard said, "Living in Svalbard exposes you to   
   the front-line of Arctic climate change. I can't think of anything more   
   stark than the sight of methane outgassing in the immediate forefield   
   of a retreating glacier."  Previously, research has centred on methane   
   release from thawing permafrost (frozen ground). "While the focus is   
   often on permafrost, this new finding tells us that there are other   
   pathways for methane emissions which could be even more significant in   
   the global methane budget," said study co-author Professor Alexandra   
   Turchyn, also from Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences.   
      
   Hodson added, "Until this work was conducted, we didn't understand the   
   source and pathways of this gas because we were reading about studies   
   from completely different parts of the Arctic where glaciers are absent."   
   The methane-delivering springs they identified are fed by a plumbing   
   system hidden beneath most glaciers, which taps into large groundwater   
   reserves within the underlying sediments and surrounding bedrock. Once   
   the glaciers melt and retreat, springs appear where this groundwater   
   network punches through to the surface.   
      
   The researchers found that methane emissions from glacial groundwater   
   springs across Svalbard could exceed 2,000 tonnes over the course of a   
   year -- which equates to roughly 10% of the methane emissions resulting   
   from Norway's annual oil and gas energy industry.   
      
   This source of methane will likely become more significant as more springs   
   are exposed, said Kleber, "If global warming continues unchecked then   
   methane release from glacial groundwater springs will probably become   
   more extensive."  Glacial groundwater springs aren't always easy to   
   recognize, so Kleber trained her eye to pick them out from satellite   
   images. Zooming in on the areas of land exposed by the retreat of 78   
   glaciers across Svalbard, Kleber looked for tell- tale blue trickles of   
   ice where groundwater had leaked to the surface and frozen. She then   
   travelled to each of these sites by snowmobile to take samples of the   
   groundwater at locations where the ice had blistered due to pressurized   
   water and gas build up.   
      
   When Kleber and the team profiled the chemistry of the water feeding   
   these springs, they found that all bar one of the sites studied were   
   highly concentrated with dissolved methane -- meaning that, when the   
   spring water reaches the surface, there is plenty of excess methane that   
   can escape to the atmosphere.   
      
   The researchers also identified localized hotspots of methane emissions,   
   which were closely related to the type of rock from which the groundwater   
   emerges.   
      
   Certain rocks like shale and coal contain natural gases, including   
   methane, produced by the breakdown of organic matter when the rocks   
   formed. This methane can move upwards through fractures in the rock and   
   into the groundwater.   
      
   "In Svalbard we are beginning to understand the complex and cascading   
   feedbacks triggered by glacier melt -- it seems likely that there are   
   more outcomes like this which we have yet to uncover," said Kleber.   
      
   "The amount of methane leaking from the springs we measured will likely   
   be dwarfed by the total volume of trapped gas lying below these glaciers,   
   waiting to escape," said Hodson, "That means we urgently need to establish   
   the risk of a sudden increase in methane leakage, because glaciers will   
   only continue to retreat whilst we struggle to curb climate change."   
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   provided by University_of_Cambridge. Original written by Catherine   
   Martin-Jones. The original text of this story is licensed under a Creative   
   Commons_License. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Gabrielle E. Kleber, Andrew J. Hodson, Leonard Magerl, Erik Schytt   
         Mannerfelt, Harold J. Bradbury, Yizhu Zhu, Mark Trimmer,   
         Alexandra V.   
      
         Turchyn. Groundwater springs formed during glacial retreat are   
         a large source of methane in the high Arctic. Nature Geoscience,   
         2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41561-023-01210-6   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230706124515.htm   
      
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